


We're Not Dead, Yet

by elaranova



Category: Septiplier - Fandom, Youtube RPF, jacksepticeye, markiplier - Fandom, youtube rpf - freeform - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Apocalypse, M/M, Post Apocalypse AU, Post-Apocalypse, Zombie AU, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-24
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2018-09-19 15:01:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 27,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9446663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elaranova/pseuds/elaranova
Summary: a post apocalyptic au with mark & zombie jack. mark is trying to navigate his way through a post-apocalyptic world infested with zombies, pulling zombie!jack along with him in hopes that he'll be able to turn him back to normal when he finds the cure.it was inspired by this graphic https://jchnmulany.tumblr.com/post/156277286521/post-apocalyptic-mark-zombie-jack-cmon





	1. A Snack

**Author's Note:**

> It might get gory here and there, but it shouldn't be too terrible bad, okay?

“Stop,” Mark pulled his shirt up to cover his nose and pulled at the rope, “Put that down,” He took a few steps towards his friend, who was now crouched in the road and gnawing intently on some sort of dead small animal. He felt his stomach lurch at the chewing and slurping sounds he made as he worked at the animal’s flesh, “Jack– c’mon, stop. We don’t have time for this,” He tugged on the rope just hard enough to throw Jack off his balance without actually knocking him over.

The only response he received was a grunt and a grumble as Jack stood up slowly from his crouched position and reluctantly started to follow behind Mark again. He didn’t discard his new snack, though. The smell of the carcass and the sound of Jack eating it made Mark feel sick to his stomach, but he didn’t have the heart to take it from him. At least this would keep him occupied for awhile, and the two could travel without much turmoil.

His goal was to head North towards what used to be a town called Modesto, before the infection broke out. A few days back, they’d happened upon a CB radio and had come in contact with a group that claimed to know of a cure. They hadn’t been willing to give him too much information over the radio, but they’d promised him more information if he could make it up to their area. He had no way to prove whether or not their claims were legitimate, but he had no other leads so there wasn’t much else he could do.

They were walking down a deserted highway covered with cars that had been left abandoned. Most of the doors were left swung open. Some of them still had a passenger or two inside– though he doubted any of them still had a pulse– and he might have considered looting through some of the cars if he hadn’t been so nervous about the dark clouds starting to swell in the sky overhead.

“C’mon bud,” Mark stopped to wait for Jack to catch up with his drudging steps before he continued along beside him, “Can’t you pick up the pace for me just this once?” Of course no response came from Jack, not in the form of words or a faster walking speed.

He knew now that when he talked to Jack, he was essentially talking to himself. For awhile he liked to pretend that there was still some part of his friend’s brain that wasn’t infected, that was listening to whatever he said aloud and was cataloging it for a time when he was infection free. But that thought had only let him get too emotional– too angry, to be precise– and he had to let it go.

“Holy shit, that thing reeks,” He looked over at the small, bloody carcass in Jack’s hands, “I’d say that it’s probably not healthy for you to eat, but I think we’re a little bit past that point, huh?” He forced out a dry laugh. Jack didn’t even look in his direction. Mark wasn’t even sure that Jack noticed when he was speaking at all anymore. He was pretty sure it was all just background noise to his old friend now, not able to distinguish anything intelligible in the world around him. The only things that ever seemed to matter to Jack now were food and potential threats, both things that he and Mark were never on the same page about now.

Just then Jack had apparently finished eating all he wanted from the small animal as he dropped it down onto the asphalt and made no attempt to try and step over it. His foot stepped right on top of it, causing the bones to break with a few loud snaps, and Mark shuddered uncomfortably at the sounds. He looked up at the sky again and furrowed his brow anxiously at the darkening sky.

“I think the rain’s coming faster than I wanted it to,” He sighed, “How about we find some shelter, Jackaboy,” Jack didn’t agree or protest to the idea, but Mark hadn’t expected him to, “Don’t want you to start rotting like your snack back there, do we?” Again, Mark forced out a dry laugh, although the all too real possibility of Jack rotting in the rain was an intense and lingering fear.


	2. Taking Shelter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> mark and zombie jack take shelter from a storm.

The legs of the table scraped against the wooden floor as Mark pushed it up against the door. He set a few chairs on top of it, just to give the blockade a little extra weight. The zombies on their own weren’t too entirely strong, but unfriendly humans wandering around the area certainly could be. It had been awhile since they’d had any weapons to defend themselves with and Mark didn’t want to run the risk of getting attacked while they hid out from the rain. 

A lot of other survivors tended to see rainfall as a semi-safe time to move from one place to another. The zombies usually dissipated and left the streets to covered areas when it rained. Something about their skin absorbed the water too quickly, causing some seriously nasty rotting of the flesh if it wasn’t drained in proper time. 

Mark had a theory it might be some kind of bacteria, like a kind of spongy fungi that wasn’t advanced enough to know when it was over watered. There was no way to know if his theory was correct, because the news coverage on the outbreak stopped a long time ago. He wasn’t sure if any of the scientists that had been working towards a cure were still alive, or still working if they were alive. He would’ve understood if they’d stopped, to be with their families if they had them. 

Unfortunately, Mark and Jack couldn’t use rainfall as a time for safe travel, because Jack was at same risk of rot as every other zombie out there. Just because Mark was pulling him along for the journey didn’t mean that he was anymore human than the rest of the infected. When it rained, they found shelter and they waited. It didn’t matter how long the rain lasted. They waited. Mark had seen what the rot could do and he knew he wouldn’t be able to bare seeing it happen to his best friend. 

A loud crash came from somewhere in the bathroom that Mark had locked Jack in while he was blockading the entrances to the rest of the house. He let out a loud sigh and headed towards the closed door. He took a minute before he opened it, just standing there and thinking about what was on the other side. He wished that when he opened the door, Jack would be back to normal. He wished that Jack would laugh and talk and joke with him like he used to– or that he could at least speak a few intelligible words. 

But those were pipe dreams. The only way Jack was getting back to normal was by some kind of cure and that definitely wouldn’t be found in the bathroom of some abandoned house. 

“Hey bud,” He called through the door, “I’m coming in now,” Mark told him, although it was more for his own well-being than an actual warning for Jack. 

When he opened the door, he couldn’t help but laugh at what he saw. He wasn’t sure what had happened, but Jack had somehow managed to knock what he could only assume was once a towel rack and a medicine cabinet off the walls and onto the floor. There were glass shards shattered around the cabinet itself, and the contents that hadn’t been raided by passerbys had spilled out onto the shards. The best part was Jack’s blank expression, almost completely unaware of what he’d done as he walked himself in place against the shower door. 

“C’mon. Let’s get you out of here before you cut your feet,” He carefully walked Jack out of the bathroom, hands on his shoulders from behind so he could keep a good distance. Usually Jack was pretty good about not trying to bite Mark, but on rare occasions he would get confused or startled or just plain hungry and try to take a chunk out of Mark with his teeth. As rare as those instances were, Mark was always prepared to dodge the attempt, just in case. 

He guided Jack into the living room that he’d set up to spend the night in. Mark wanted to enjoy having shelter and being able to take a break from walking and traveling, but it was difficult. Jack didn’t sleep. He never seemed to need it, but Mark did. He couldn’t just leave Jack to his own free will and without supervision. So, when they took shelter, Mark was left with no other choice but to tie him up. 

This was the part that always hurt the most. 

He’d set up a blanket in the corner next to the broken heater pipes. This was yet another habit he had more for his own piece of mind than Jack’s well-being, as Jack didn’t seem to ever feel too cold or too hot or too anything other than hungry, and occasionally what Mark could only assume was some form of being angry. It just felt better to look over and see him sitting or squatting on top of a blanket, like his own little nest, instead of the hard floor of wherever they took shelter. 

“Sit down,” Mark tried lightly pushing Jack down by the shoulders, but got resistance instead of compliance, “Sean, sit down,” He said again, letting out a heavy sigh. His companion let out a grunt and tried turning himself around. Luckily his reflexes were about as quick as molasses so it was easy for Mark to stop his attempt before he was even half way through turning around, “Don’t fight me, please. Just sit,” He used a lot more force this time when pushing on Jack’s shoulders, and this time he went down without a choice. Mark hated handling him like that. Throughout their journey, he’d tried to continue to treat Jack as much like a human as possible. But sometimes he had no other choice but to treat him like a child or a pet or what he really was now– a zombie. 

He took the spare rope that he kept looped in his back belt loop and tied one end around the heater pipes. Then he tied the other end to Jack’s wrist and tugged on it a few times to make sure the whole thing was secure. 

“Now you be good tonight. I don’t want to have to tie your waist rope to anything, but I will if I have to,” Mark said. Jack wasn’t looking at him. He was staring off blankly towards the opposite side of the room, and had even started groaning halfway through Mark’s warning. He chose to take that as a notion of compliance instead of obliviousness. 

With Jack tied up, Mark could take some time to take care of himself. He walked back towards the bathroom that Jack had all but destroyed and turned the faucet handles. Some stroke of wild luck let water come pouring through the faucet head and he waited a few moments before it ran as clear as it was going to get. He cupped some of it into his hands and submerged his face in the small pool he’d gathered. With the second handful, he actually did his best to wash his face without soap or a mirror, hoping to get at least some of the crusted dirt and other nastiness off his face. 

His bones ached as he made his way back towards the living room, not surprised to find that Jack hadn’t moved from the spot he’d left him in. Mark took a seat on the floor atop the three or four blankets he’d found in a well-hidden linen closet upstairs. The rain had started outside and it was coming down hard, some of it spilling through holes in one or two broken of the windows. The house was in better shape than most of the ones around it, leading him to believe that someone had been living here until fairly recently. If that was the case, he wasn’t sure what had happened to them but he thought it was probably better if it stayed that way. 

Jack groaned from the corner, but Mark didn’t bother to look in his direction. He tried not to look at Jack too much while he had him tied up. It was too difficult of a sight to see. It was already bad enough to have to constantly see his best friend as a hollow shell of his former shell, sickly grey skin replacing his regular rosy-cheeked complexion, blotches of green scattered here and there, his eyes dead and vacant. He didn’t need to see that same shell of a person tied up as some kind of prisoner. Of course that wasn’t the case, because he wasn’t a prisoner. Mark was bringing him along in attempts to one day save him. But it looked like he was being held against his will, tied to whatever fixture Mark could find in their current shelter, and Mark couldn’t stand it. 

He balled up one of the blankets and put it under his head to use as a pillow. Then he bundled himself up with the other three, hoping to keep the cold out as much as possible. There was a pellet stove fireplace in the living room, but he wasn’t stupid enough to try to light it. It would be a waste of time and Mark was too exhausted to fiddle with it and search for the pellets. 

A crack of thunder could be heard in the distance and it made Mark wonder how long the storm would last. He could hear Jack steadily getting noisier, his grunts and groans becoming more regular by the minute. It was due to the rain, most likely. It was already setting Mark on edge, though, and he felt like it might drive him crazy. 

“Stop,” Mark said shortly, hoping that by the same stroke of luck he’d had earlier, Jack would actually understand and comply. It seemed he was out of luck though. Jack seemed to almost get noisier in response, “Fucking hell..” He mumbled under his breath and pulled the blankets up a little farther. He shut his eyes tighter and tried to focus on the sound of the rain. 

The tensing of his muscles and straining to focus on the rain and only the rain must have finally exhausted him to his limit, because he was asleep within five minutes or so. His body relaxed slightly and he even snored just a bit, the sound muffled by the loud thunder storm outside. 

Unbeknownst to Mark, Jack stayed awake as always. His noises settled down and he sat staring at Mark from across the room all night, watching the way his chest rose and fell with every breath, trying to match his uneven wheezing breaths to Mark’s own. A tear rolled down Mark’s cheek while he slept and Jack noticed it when Mark subconsciously lifted a hand to wipe it away. 

Jack felt the first thing he remembered feeling in a long time other than anger and hunger– confusion. He lifted his finger to his face and traced a line from his eye down his cheek, mimicking the movement of the tear. He groaned one last time that night, but this time there was a hint of human in the sound that no one was awake to hear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This wasn't very eventful, I'm sorry. The next chapter is going to be Mark's dream and it'll explain why he cried a tear while he was sleeping. It's gonna be emotional af.


	3. Remembering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this is the dream that mark has that made him cry in his sleep. it's a dream chapter and a flashback chapter all in one, because this was the last time jack was like a semi-functioning human being before he turned full zombie.

“Hey, how ya doing?” Mark asked as he entered the room of the run down apartment bedroom. Jack was sat with his head in his hands, rubbing his temples. When he looked up at Mark, his eyes were bloodshot and the sunken in dark circles under his eyes were a strong contrast to his paling skin. 

“Feel like shit,” Jack grumbled. He’d been speaking in shorter and shorter sentences lately, only able to get out the main points of whatever he wanted to say instead of rambling on in conversation like he used to. They both knew what was happening, but neither one wanted to admit it just yet. 

“Well here’s this back,” Mark placed the empty bucket in front of Jack, “Just in case you need to throw up again,” He’d gone outside to clean it out at least three times today. He’d made it a point to find some sort of bucket or container once Jack started throwing up because the last thing he wanted was vomit on the floor. It already made him feel queasy as it was. He didn’t need their entire shelter smelling permanently. 

Jack just grunted as an unspoken ‘thank you’ and went back to rubbing his eyes and his temples. Mark sat down in the armchair in the corner of the room. He looked over his friend, feeling the deep rooted concern that had grown in his heart. Jack was his best friend in the entire world. They were a pair, a team, a package deal– without Jack, Mark felt like he was nothing. He wanted to tell himself that it was just a flu or maybe food poisoning. But food poisoning didn’t last an entire week, and the flu didn’t turn your skin grey or make you smell like a dead animal. 

“Stop staring,” Jack said, wiping his nose on the back of his hand. 

“Sorry,” Mark murmured. He let his head fall to rest on the back of the chair, closing his eyes. He took in a large deep breath and let it out slowly. Every bone in his body ached. It felt like his muscles were about two seconds away from snapping at all times. Sometimes his feet felt like they weighed 200 pounds, and his eyes were usually so dry that it felt like someone was pushing needles into them every time he blinked. Despite his own torment, he knew it was nothing compared to what Jack was going through. 

He couldn’t keep any food down anymore, yet he was still throwing up on a regular basis. Sometimes he’d get nosebleeds that would last for hours at a time, and headaches so bad that Mark could see tears in his eyes. At night, he’d sit on his haunches and whisper to himself instead of sleeping. Mark sometimes heard him counting to 100, or singing the ABCs. Lately, he couldn’t get past 40, and always got stuck somewhere between the letter ‘L’ and the letter ‘P’. He was pretty sure that scared Jack just as much as it worried Mark. 

Jack was vomiting again now, and the smell was particularly bad. Mark expected it to stop in a minute or so at the most, but Jack just seemed to keep throwing up. When Mark lifted his head to look at his friend– contrary to his usual habits of looking away whenever he vomited– he was shocked by what he saw. Jack’s nose had started bleeding and that was nothing unusual, but he could now see just a small amount of blood trickling out of his friend’s ear and down the side of his face. 

The vomiting continued. Jack put his arms over his stomach and had just enough of a break to mutter a small cry for help before he was throwing up again. 

Mark was on his feet and standing next to Jack in an instant. For a few seconds, he just stood there. He’d been ready to help the second that he was asked but now came the more complicated matter of figuring out just what he could actually do. There wasn’t much, really. This was definitely the worst that Jack had been so far. He didn’t think anything he did would help and he didn’t want to make anything worse. 

Before Mark had much of a chance to even attempt any kind of assistance, Jack stopped throwing up. He only had a second to feel thankful before Jack was falling over, off the bed and onto the floor. His legs curled up to his chest and his hands shook rapidly. The nosebleed had gotten increasingly worse and he didn’t even want to take a second to see what the blood out of his ears was doing. 

“Mark,” Jack choked out, doing his best to reach a hand out and up towards his friend. 

“I’m right here, buddy,” Mark sat criss-cross beside him, pulling Jack’s curled up form into his lap, “I’m right here.” 

His friend’s skin felt almost clammy and cold to the touch. He reeked of vomit and dirt and death. Jack’s whole body shook. His eyes were starting to look a bit glassy, their normal blue fogging into a murky grey. It scared Mark so badly that he wanted to cry, but he kept it together. Now was not the time to deal with his own feelings. 

“I’m scared,” He croaked out, “So scared.” 

“It’s okay,” Mark felt the sting of tears behind his eyes and blinked rapidly in attempt to make them go away, “You don’t have to be scared. I’ve got you,” He held his arms tighter around Jack. He pushed some of Jack’s matted hair off his forehead and out of his face, “I’ve got you, bud.”

Jack was crying now, tears mixing with the dirt and blood and other muck on his face. He shut his eyes tightly and held one of his hands against his temple, yelling out in pain. When he opened his eyes again, they were even more murky than they had been just a few seconds prior. It seemed Jack was having a hard time focusing them, as they scanned Mark’s face looking for something to hone in on. 

“Help me,” He croaked out, the shaking of his body starting to subside. Mark’s own heart started beating faster as he felt his friend’s muscles relaxing. He didn’t want Jack to be miserable, but he didn’t like where this was going either, “Please.. Mark… Don’t give up.” 

“I’m not going to give up, Jack. I’m not going to give up,” He repeated his words, as if saying them twice would give Jack some kind of new strength, “I’m right here, and we’re going to get through this together,” He nodded his head quickly, his words rushed and panicked. 

Before Jack could even nod a response, his eyes started to fall shut and his body started to go limp. Mark’s heart stopped for just a second before it came back to life at three times the speed of his normal heart rate. This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t lose Jack, in any sense of the word.

“No no no no,” He whispered under his breath, “Jack, c’mon. C’mon Jack, stay with me buddy,” Mark tried shaking him a bit. His voice was shaking and his entire face felt numb, “Don’t do this,” Tears were welling in his eyes and he angrily blinked them away, “Wake up. Wake up! Don’t fucking do this to me, Jack,” He used his fingers to open one of Jack’s eyes, only to find it’s blank stare looking back at him. 

“No!” He yelled in despair. He couldn’t hold back anymore. He let out a loud, shaky sob as tears came flooding down his cheeks. He held his friend close to his chest as he sobbed, not wanting to let go. His body shook with every miserable sob and heartbroken gasp that escaped him.

“I’m not letting you go,” He cried through his tears, “I’m not giving up on you,” Mark shook his head and repeated the words over and over again. The smell from the bucket of vomit just a few feet from him was making his eyes and nose burn, but he couldn’t bring himself to get up and move. He just sat on the floor sobbing and clutching the unconscious body of his friend to his chest, hoping to god that his friend would wake up again. 

Eventually, he would wake up again. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be the same Jack that had gone unconscious in Mark’s arms that afternoon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feedback, comments & suggestions are always welcome!!! hope you guys enjoyed!!


	4. Intruder Alert

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some strangers happen upon the duo and aren't thrilled to see that Mark is keeping a zombie alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this took forever to upload, and I'm sorry about that. I had difficulties finishing it because distractions kept coming up. Then, when I did finish it, my computer started having technical difficulties. Then when I restored bits of it to fix the problem, it got wiped out. I had to rewrite it. The original was definitely better than the rewrite, and I'm sorry if this is disappointing & not that great... gore tw for some stuff at the end..

One minute Mark was asleep on the floor of their temporary shelter, the next he was forced awake by loud sounds of panic. It took a minute for Mark to realize what was going on. The sudden change between silence and almost deafening sound rattled his brain and made everything hard to process. Jack’s low disgruntled groaning could be heard under the high pitched screaming and yelling. 

“Shoot it!” He could finally process the words being yelled, “Shoot it, for the love of God!” 

Mark’s heart rate shot through the roof and he fumbled to get on his feet, knowing who the ‘it’ they were referring to was. He ran as fast as he could across the room and towards Jack, throwing himself in front of him. 

“No!” He shouted, finally looking at whoever had entered their shelter while he’d been sleeping. Mark found himself looking at a young woman– maybe in her early twenties– and an older man– maybe in his late fifties. The man had a shotgun in his hands and was getting ready to set his sights on Jack. The woman was standing behind the man, peering around his torso and looking incredibly distraught. 

“Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot,” He repeated the words more calmly the second time, “Please. Please don’t shoot,” Jack was still making disgruntled and aggravated noises, no doubt feeling startled by the disturbance and bothered by the loudness, “He’s not hurting anyone. He’s harmless.”

“Harmless?” The older man scoffed, “Boy, that thing is far from harmless. You get any closer to it and it’ll chew into your flesh until you’re nothing but bones.”

“No,” Mark shook his head, “No, you’re wrong. He’s not– He’s no harm to anyone,” He looked over his shoulder to see Jack’s blank stare looking back at him. When he looked back to the strangers, he could see that they were nowhere near believing him. Part of him could understand why. The only living infected beings they’d ever come across were probably feral beasts who’s hunger for flesh overtook any other thoughts or instincts they ever had. 

“I’ll– I’ll prove it,” He swallowed hard. 

It wasn’t that Mark didn’t trust Jack, even in the state he was in. At the end of the day this was his best friend he’d been pulling along through his travels, infected or not. It was just that he’d never actually put himself directly in front of Jack, close enough to be bitten, without some kind of restraint. They’d never tested this out before and even though he hoped that Jack would pull through and not take the free chance for easy meat, he couldn’t be completely sure that Jack’s natural instincts wouldn’t override anything else in his head. 

However, this seemed to be the only way to convince the strangers not to shoot Jack and kill him right then and there. The fact that Jack could have been blown to smithereens if Mark had woken up just a few seconds later made him sick to his stomach. How would he go on without Jack? He couldn’t even continue thinking about it. It was too terrifying. 

Mark turned so he could look at Jack a little better. Then, before he could think himself out of it, he picked up one of Jack’s hands and placed it on his own arm. He’d learned over time that if he wanted Jack to pay attention to something, or if he wanted him to use it in whatever way he was still capable, he had to force contact. Otherwise, it was hard for Jack to recognize things that didn’t smell like food, or didn’t make loud noises. 

Jack’s other hand lifted to Mark’s arm and rested there as well. His hands felt clammy and cold and had almost a rubbery, but flimsy texture to them. He grasped Mark’s arm a little too tightly for a minute and Mark could feel him start to twist them in opposite directions, something he’d seen Jack do multiple times when he was trying to get to an animals insides quickly. 

“No no,” He said softly, calmly, “It’s me, buddy. It’s Mark,” Jack’s hands stopped their twisting motion and Mark felt his heart jump in his chest. There was still apart of Jack somewhere in there that recognized him, even if it was only because he was the familiar voice that stopped him from doing the things he wanted to do. 

His hands wandered from his arm and up towards his shoulders, broken and decaying fingernails scraping slightly against the skin on his neck. One of his hands found it’s way to Mark’s face. The smell was pretty putrid with Jack’s skin directly next to his nose. He had to force back a gag, somehow feeling like it would upset Jack, even though he knew the chances of that were slim. 

It was a strange feeling, Jack’s hand feeling around his face. When he located Mark’s eyes, Mark had to close them so he wouldn’t poke them out. He had to do the same with closing his lips as Jack found his mouth, trying to shove his fingers inside. He wasn’t sure how long this actually lasted, but it felt like awhile. This was more contact he’d had with his friend than he’d experienced in a long time. It was strange just to sit still and feel Jack rediscover his face, but with touch instead of sight. 

The entire time Jack sat in front of him, looking in his direction without really focusing on Mark’s face, or any of him really. Mark wondered what he could actually see, and how well his sight was. Sometimes it seemed better than others, and he’d never been able to really figure out just how much sight he had. He seemed to rely on his other senses more than his sight most of the time, so Mark always assumed it wasn’t great. 

He’d become so caught up in this weird, yet strangely comforting experienced with Jack that he’d forgotten about the strangers watching them from the doorway. 

“How do we know that he hasn’t infected you now, touching you like that?” The older man asked curtly. Mark looked over his shoulder at the two, Jack continuing his attempt to scan Mark’s head, feeling the back of his hair now instead of his face. 

“I’ve been traveling with him for some time now. Don’t you think I’d be infected by now if physical contact was going to spread it?” Mark felt Jack pulled at his hair and grimaced. He turned back to face his friend and took his hand away, setting it at his side again, “That’s enough, bud.” Jack grunted in response. Mark looked at his face for a second and couldn’t help but feel like there was a change in the way that his mouth was set. He’d been so used to seeing a blank and unfeeling expression for so long, but now his features almost seemed a tiny bit confused. 

“I still don’t trust him,” The girl spoke up for the first time in awhile, “And I especially don’t trust you. Anybody who’d willingly keep one of those things around without killing it obviously isn’t right in the head.”

“Him. Not it– him. His name’s Jack,” Mark instantly felt defensive, “His name is Jack and he’s not a “thing”.”

Both strangers scoffed, almost at the same time. Neither one of them said anything for a moment, they both just looked at each other. 

“We got a group gathered in town, fresh food supplies and a warm bed for you and Jack,” The old man looked from Mark, to Jack, and back to Mark again, “Why don’t you come back to the shelter with us, and you can bring your little friend with you. I’m sure everyone there would love to have some new members. Maybe you can educate’m about your friend too, like you did us.”

“No, thanks,” Mark felt uneasy. He knew things wouldn’t end well if he followed them back to whatever group they had gathered in whatever shelter they’d set up. These two didn’t believe a word he’d said about Jack being harmless, about him not deserving to die. He wasn’t stupid and he wasn’t about to fall into a trap a few insensitive pricks were trying to set for him, “We won’t be staying here long. We’ll be heading out once the rain stops,” He gestured towards the windows and the rain falling outside. 

“Hmm,” The girl shifted on her feet, “You should think over the offer. We’ll be back when the rain clears up to see if you’ve changed your mind,” She gave a smile that sent chills down Mark’s spine. He felt his heart beating fast and he suddenly feared for Jack’s life more than ever before. 

Before Mark could say anything in return, both strangers turned on their heels and headed out of the room. He listened carefully to their footsteps as they walked out of the house and shut the front door behind them. He wondered how they’d known he and Jack were there. Maybe they did routine rounds of the area, if they had a shelter set up in town. He thought it had been unusual that the house was in such good condition, with the water working and all. 

When he turned back around to look at Jack again, Jack was looking at one of his own hands while the other touched his own face. Mark didn’t say anything for a few seconds. He didn’t want to pull Jack out of whatever the hell he was doing. It made his chest tighten a little, the way Jack was turning his own hand over and observing it like he’d never really noticed it existed before. It was incredibly strange, and Mark didn’t know what it meant, exactly. 

“Well Jackaboy,” He finally spoke, not letting himself dwell on it for too long. Jack didn’t look up from inspecting his own hand, “Change of plans. Looks like we’re gonna be heading out of here before the storm clears up after all. I don’t think we’re welcome here.” 

Mark turned to look out the window. The rain fell steadily against the glass pane. He let out a small sigh. It was going to be tough, making Jack walk out in that. He’d have to figure out how to keep his friend’s skin from soaking through and rotting to the bone. He’d also have to figure out how to get out of town unnoticed. It wouldn’t be easy, but it needed to be done. 

Jack grunted and groaned and Mark pulled his attention back to his friend. 

While Mark hadn’t been paying attention, the hand innocently placed on Jack’s face had accidentally torn a small hole into the grey-ish skin on his cheek. It didn’t bleed– that had stopped a long time ago. 

“Goddammit,” Mark sighed again, “How many times am I gonna have to patch you up before you learn to stop tearing yourself?” His frustration was legitimate. He laughed a bit as he reached into his pocket to fish out the needle and spool of thick thread, preparing to patch up another gash in Jack’s skin. 

One day this wouldn’t happen anymore. One day Jack wouldn’t fall to pieces and break open so easily. He’d be whole and glowing and bright again– or at least that’s what Mark kept telling himself.


	5. Reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flashback to Mark waiting for Jack to wake up after he goes unconscious. Things aren't so easy when he comes back to life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I already have the next two chapters planned out but let me know what you're interested in seeing in future chapters!! I'd love feedback/suggestions! Whatever you're curious about or want me to delve in deeper about, etc. Feel free to let me know.

Mark had spent three whole days lying next to Jack’s motionless body on the bed. There was a faint pulse that Mark could feel in Jack’s neck that kept him from giving up complete hope. He promised Jack he wouldn’t give up, and that he would be there for him. He wasn’t going to break that promise. He would rather die than have Jack finally wake up to find himself alone and abandoned.

He’d barely gotten any sleep, and he’d only taken the time to eat when the aching in his stomach became too much to bare. He didn’t want to leave Jack’s side for too long. What if something happened while he was gone? He couldn’t take that risk. 

Jack’s skin had slowly faded more and more into a green-ish grey color and he’d stopped putting out body heat almost altogether. Mark wrapped him in blankets as best as he could, trying to keep him warm and cozy. Without any kind of IV or other medical equipment, he had no way to give him water or nutrients. He couldn’t just pour liquids down Jack’s throat and expect his body to know what to do without Jack’s brain functioning properly. He only hoped that he wasn’t dying of dehydration or starvation while he was unconscious.

He’d kept his distance from Jack on the bed at first, but as his heart felt heavier and heavier at the fear of him not waking up again, he’d closed the space between the two of them. It was uncomfortably strange going so long without hearing Jack’s voice. They’d been best friends for such a long time now that it felt unnatural to not hear from Jack in one way or another, and to be unable to share what he had to say in return. 

To make up for the lack of communication and the emptiness it was causing, Mark had taken to getting under the thick blankets with Jack– or the shell that once was Jack. He tried not to think about the fact that Jack was unconscious, that he was on the thin line between life and death. It made him feel like maybe cradling against him wasn’t entirely appropriate or sanitary. But the occasional conflicted feeling subsided fairly easily as it was overpowered by his feelings of fear, anxiety, heartache and loneliness. 

It was around sunrise on day four that he decided maybe it was a good idea to get a washcloth and clean Jack up a bit. His face was still bloody from his nose bleed and it wouldn’t hurt to wash off some of the dirt collected on him as well. Besides, the act would give him something to do so he didn’t go insane just sitting around feeling stir crazy. 

“It’s gonna be okay, Jack,” He spoke out loud, knowing his friend probably couldn’t hear him but just needing to break the silence. He brushed some stray hairs off of Jack’s forehead and dipped the washcloth into the bowl of water, squeezing out the excess. He was careful as he washed Jack’s face, realizing that his skin felt more delicate to the touch now than his own. He didn’t know what would happen if he accidentally stretched it too far, but he didn’t want to find out either. 

He hummed a soft lullaby as he washed Jack’s face, carefully cleaning the dried blood from underneath his nose and even washing a few of the dirtier spots right under his jaw. Mark wasn’t sure how Jack could look so peaceful and yet so cold at the same time. His body was limp and his muscles were completely relaxed, but somehow it still looked like he could be in some sort of distress. 

“Now you stay here,” He put the washcloth in the water and picked the bowl up, “I’m going to go dump this out and grab a towel, then I’ll be right back.” Again, Jack couldn’t hear what he was saying but Mark felt better speaking to him as if he could.

He was in the bathroom, rinsing the bowl so the dirt wouldn’t set into it, when he heard unfamiliar noises coming from the bedroom. His heart beat hard twice in his chest before feeling like it stopped altogether. His stomach was in his throat and his suddenly felt as hot as a furnace. He’d been hearing nothing but silence and his own voice for days on end and now the foreign sound was both terrifying and comforting. 

It meant Jack was awake, even if only a little bit, and although part of him wanted to go running in to greet his friend, another part of him was paralyzed with fear. At the end of the day, he knew what was wrong with Jack. He knew why he’d been sick, why he’d had his last terrible fit and why he’d been unconscious for so long. As much as he wanted to see his friend awake and moving again, he was afraid to see just how much of his friend was still actually alive. 

The noises continued coming from the other room and Mark knew that he couldn’t hide in the bathroom forever. He mustered up every ounce of courage he had in him and exited the bathroom, heading towards the room he’d left Jack in. The delusional part of his brain hoped to see Jack sitting up in bed, looking tired and sick and unhappy, but still awake and alive and normal. The delusional part of him hoped with all his might that he would see his good old buddy back to normal again. Unfortunately, those were nothing but delusions of grandeur. 

Jack was still semi-wrapped in the blankets that Mark had laid on top of him. However, they were no longer gently and peacefully keeping him warm. Instead they seemed to be acting as some kind of trap that he couldn’t get out of. He was letting out the occasional grunt and groan as he tried to untangle himself from the fabric. Mark wanted to laugh, but figured it was probably more productive to help him out of his struggle. 

“Having some trouble?” He did let out a small laugh as he started to walk towards Jack. However, the reaction of his friend stopped him. 

A low groan came from somewhere in the back of Jack’s throat as he stopped struggling with the blankets. Mark couldn’t tell where his eyes were focused, and he wasn’t even sure if they were at all. They were glazed over with a hazy fog of milky grey that made them look ghost-like. The outer edges of his eye sockets were red and irritated now that they were open. He could see Jack’s body tense up, on guard and on edge. 

“Hey, come on now,” Mark tried to keep his tone light, trying to joke it off like he was offended that Jack didn’t recognize him, “You’re giving me this attitude after I’ve been your nurse for four days?” He tried to take another step towards Jack, but stopped almost immediately. 

He was still tangled up a bit in the blankets but that didn’t stop Jack from trying to lean forward aggressively in Mark’s direction. He snapped at the air with his teeth like a piranha, trying to sink them into something. Mark’s heart dropped into his stomach and he could practically feel the color drain from his face. 

Jack had just tried to bite him. He didn’t seem to realize where he was or who he was, and he certainly didn’t care about who Mark was or what he was doing there. This had been coming for a long time and Mark had known it, really. But denying it and pushing it away had done nothing but make it more difficult to accept the reality of the situation now that it was staring him in the face. 

Jack was groaning and gurgling and had resumed his attempt to get out of the blankets. Suddenly, Mark felt sick to his stomach. He rushed to the bathroom and vomited. Nothing but stomach bile came up, as he’d barely eaten anything in the past few days, and it made his throat burn. He told himself the burning sensation was the reason why his eyes were watering, but a few minutes after he’d finished throwing up, they were still watering. 

He let himself cry, sitting on the floor in the corner of the bathroom with his eyes shut, trying to drain out the sounds that “Jack” was making in the other room. Of course he was still going to hold true to his promise of taking care of his friend, of not giving up on him. He just hadn’t realized it was going to be so difficult.


	6. What's In A Name?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> an exciting breakthrough occurs during the storm

“Jack,” Mark sighed, looking over at his friend, “What are we gonna do now, bud?” He buried his face in his hands and rubbed his eyes a bit. 

Of course, the question was rhetorical. They had no other choice but to get the hell out of there as fast as they could, before the storm cleared up and the unpleasant strangers came back for them. He could only hope they’d stop trailing them once they got out of the town. They would have no reason to go out of their way and continue to hunt Jack down, but they seemed pretty bound and determined to put him down when they showed up earlier. He didn’t want to underestimate them. At this point, he’d learned to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. 

He raked his hands through his hair before dropping them back into his lap with a thud. His bones ached from sleeping on the floor. He wondered how much rest he’d actually gotten, because it didn’t feel like much. It wasn’t as if he could just lay back down and go back to sleep after the encounter they’d just had. Even if the storm wasn’t clearing up in the next few hours, there was no guarantee that Mark would be able to wake himself up in time to get out safely. He still had to figure out how they were going to get out of town, as he figured they’d have a pretty good amount of surveillance set up if they used it as a base. 

Mark looked over at Jack and saw him still looking his hands over, his lips slightly open and his brows a bit furrowed. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen him focus on something this hard that wasn’t food. He wasn’t quite sure if it was a good thing, or a bad thing.

“Watchya doin’ Jack?” He moved over to sit in front of his friend, “What’s wrong?” Jack didn’t say anything, but Mark hadn’t expected him to, “Are you just realizing you’ve got hands?” He laughed.

When he laughed, Jack looked up from his hands and stared at Mark. Mark’s heart started to beat hard in his chest, because the timing felt too responsive to be a coincidence. He swallowed thickly and went with the urge he had to continue talking. 

“What’s going on in that brain of yours?” Jack tilted his head to the side slightly, “You did a great job earlier, not biting me,” Mark praised him. Jack reached out and started to feel his face again, causing Mark to laugh, “Is this necessary? I think you’ve already done this enou–,” He was cut off by Jack putting his fingers instead Mark’s mouth. 

Mark pushed his hand away quickly. He made small spitting noises, “No Jack, that’s gross. Don’t put your fingers in my mouth, please.” He wasn’t sure when the last time Jack’s hands had been washed was and he’s touched so many disgusting things that Mark was slightly concerned for his own health even after just a few seconds of having his fingers inside his mouth. 

Jack seemed to be in a state of confusion and curiosity. Apparently the trust exercise had really sparked something in him, and Mark wondered if it just happened to be good timing or if he could have done something like this a long time ago to help him get back to his human roots. He started to wonder just how far he could get Jack back to normal simply by letting him notice how similar he was to Mark. 

He also wondered if maybe, just maybe, he could get him to talk. Not full conversations, but just a few words. Jack was still noisy in the sense that he made grunts and groans and other noises Mark didn’t understand. Maybe that meant that some part of him was still trying to communicate, but just couldn’t remember how. It could have been a long shot, but it sparked a bit of hope in Mark that he didn’t want to let go of. 

“Do you wanna try something?” He asked before holding both of Jack’s hands in his own, “Try to repeat after me,” Mark told him, taking one of Jack’s hand and placing it on his own face, “Mark. I am Mark.” He said, looking at Jack. Of course, Jack said nothing. He just started, his eyes blank, “Mark,” He said again, drawing out the word a little longer this time. 

“I am Mark,” He lifted Jack’s hand and put it back down on his face again, “Mark. Do you understand? My name is Mark.” He repeated his words a few more times. 

Truthfully, he could have been doing other important things right now. He had plans to make and things to gather. There was no telling how much time they had left before the storm cleared up. But there was also no way of knowing when they’d have the chance to sit together like this again, and Mark didn’t want to waste Jack’s newfound curiosity. 

He continued his repetition for what must have been at least an hour or so. He said his own name over and over, keeping Jack’s hand on his face and introducing himself at least a hundred times. He wasn’t sure if it was actually helping, or if Jack was actually hearing him at all, but he didn’t want to stop. He told himself that eventually there would be something that would let him know he should stop, like some obvious sign that it wasn’t doing anything or that he needed to focus on more important things. 

However, just as he was on the brink of giving up, having said his own name so many times that it didn’t even sound like a real word anymore, something remarkable happened. 

Jack opened his mouth and closed it a few times, pushing out a few loud breaths of air every time his lips parted. Mark’s stomach jumped into his throat and his heart was conflicted on whether it should stop beating completely, or beat so fast that it could fly from his chest. 

“M–” Mark held back a gasp as Jack formed the sound. It was like hearing a baby speak for the first time, only ten times better. He didn’t want to discourage Jack from trying more by making any sounds, so he just nodded his head, “M– Ma.. Ma.. Ark,” Jack’s eyebrows furrowed together and he looked at Mark, waiting for some kind of response or approval. 

There were tears in his eyes and he nodded his head quickly, “Yeah buddy, that’s right,” His voice was shaking and he swallowed thickly, “I’m Mark,” He had a smile on his face as wide as the Mississippi River. He wanted to leap forward and hug his friend, but stopped himself in fear of frightening him and losing progress. 

“Mar.. Ark..” Jack said again, and then again, “Ma.. Ark… Mar… Mark,” His voice was gravely and thick and not at all like the normal voice Mark was used to hearing from normal Jack, but that didn’t matter. He’d managed to get his name out all at once, and correctly. 

Tears were falling fast down his cheeks and he sniffled, wiping them quickly off his face, “I’m so proud of you, bud,” He held Jack’s hands firmly in his own, not wanting to let go, “I’m so proud of you…” He could see Jack’s lips continue to silently attempt to mouth the word correctly, not paying much attention to Mark at all anymore. 

They had things to do and places to go, but not right now. Mark couldn’t have moved from his spot in front of Jack even if he wanted to. He was ecstatic and although he felt like he could have run a marathon, he also didn’t want to distance himself from Jack. He was so proud, watching him try harder and harder to get the word right. Every once in awhile he’d hear Jack make half the sound, and sometimes even the full word. Hearing Jack say Mark’s name over and over, finally knowing his friend’s name again, warmed Mark’s heart. 

If he’d lost any hope towards Jack ever being cured, this breakthrough had restored it tenfold.


	7. Let's Get Out Of Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark and Jack need to get out of town.

Jack was scratching and pulling at the hoodie Mark had struggled to dress him in, continuing to push the hood off his head no matter how many times Mark pulled it back up again. It had become clear to Mark that Jack felt smothered by long sleeves, for whatever reason, and it was a constant struggle to get him to keep quiet about it. Of course, he didn’t complain in words, but instead grunts and groans of frustration. Mark was just lucky that he couldn’t figure out how to actually take the hoodie off on his own. 

“Keep it on,” Mark told him, taking Jack’s hands and placing them by his sides so he wouldn’t pull on it anymore, “It’s still raining out there,” Mark gestured with his hands in his own form of sign language that Jack clearly didn’t understand, “And if you don’t stay covered, you’re going to get skin rot.”

He adjusted the pack his back, his own bare arms already feeling the chill from the outside air. They only had one hoodie and, while Mark usually wore it to help protect him from any cold weather, Jack needed it in the rain. He could only hope that he didn’t catch pneumonia by sacrificing it. 

He wrapped the free end of the rope around his hand a few times and pulled it so that Jack was close to him, “We’ve got to get out of here, bud,” Mark looked through the window on the front door. The rain hadn’t let up but he didn’t want to wait any longer. He turned back to face Jack, “I know you can’t understand me… But you’ve got to work with me here, bud. If there’s any part of you that can understand me in there….. Please, please work with me, so we can get out of here,” He held Jack by the shoulders and did his best to look him in the eye for a few seconds before he let out a deep breath. 

“Here we go..” He whispered to himself. 

Yanking the door open, he was hit with a huge gust of chilling wind. It pulled goosebumps up on his skin but he stepped out into it anyway. When they were off the porch of the house, the rain felt like needles against his face and arms. He had to squint to see through it and do his best to keep it out of his eyes. The wind was strong and he held tightly to the rope Jack was attached to, afraid that he might accidentally let go and lose him in the storm. 

The storm was loud enough that it would most likely muffle any noises that Jack made during their escape– or at least that’s what Mark hoped. The house they’d taken shelter in was in a residential area pretty far within the town itself, and they had awhile to travel on foot before they’d be out and in the clear again. 

Mark wasn’t familiar with the town from the beginning, but the storm didn’t help make it any easier. He couldn’t see very far out in front of him, with most of the street lights out and the rain falling so heavily. The unfamiliar area looked even more foreign to him and he did his best to remember the way out of the town. If he could find a main road and make their way in one direction, they were sure to find their way out eventually. 

He glanced behind him to make sure Jack was still there at the other end of the rope. Sure enough, there he was, walking his way through the storm with a certain amount of frustration that was present in the way he walked and the expression on his face. Mark was sure it was a combination of things that was causing his negative attitude towards the situation, but he couldn’t worry about Jack’s comfort. His life was more important than him being uncomfortable for a few hours. 

Just as he was turning back around, they were approaching an intersection. He was about to continue forward when he saw a set of headlights coming down the intersecting road. It made his heart jump out of his chest. If this was the strangers that they’d met earlier, and they saw them trying to leave, he didn’t know how they’d react. He didn’t know what they’d do. Mark throwing himself in front of Jack might not stop them at all, and that was his only plan. They could just shoot the both of them and leave them in the streets. The thought of that made Mark so lightheaded he felt like he might faint. 

Without giving himself much time to think, he yanked Jack’s rope and darted quickly behind a large blue mailbox. He could only hope that they hadn’t already seen them before they’d been able to hide.

They were crossing the intersection, and Mark held his breath. Just when he thought they were going to be safe, that they hadn’t been spotted, the large SUV slowed to a stop. He cursed to himself, silently. With another yank of the rope, he kept Jack as close to his own body as possible, hoping to hide the both of them behind the box. 

He wasn’t watching, but he could hear people getting out of the car just barely over the sound of the rain. He hadn’t realized that he’d been holding his breath again until Jack did the unexpected. 

“M-ar-k,” Jack said aloud and Mark’s eyes widened, shaking his head. He tried to put his finger to his lips to tell Jack to be quiet but of course his friend didn’t understand. He repeated his name again. This time, Mark made the bold decision to lift his hand and cover Jack’s mouth with it. Jack seemed surprised and frustrated by the action, but didn’t move to fight Mark on it. 

There was silence now, except for the sound of the rain and the wind. He thought that maybe they were getting back into the car and that they hadn’t heard Jack over the sound of the storm. He’d been so panicked that maybe his brain had amplified the sound and over exaggerated just how loud Jack had been. 

He couldn’t see any lights from where he was backed up against the mailbox and he could only assume that had meant they’d pulled away. It seemed dark enough again. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then, thinking they might have been in the clear, he peered his head around the large mailbox to see if the car had pulled off. 

Panic rushed over him at what he saw. The car was not gone. They’d shut it off, the headlights going dark with it, and were sitting in the middle of the intersection in the same place they’d been when they’d stopped in the first place. Mark not only saw the car still in place, but he also found himself looking down the barrel of a shotgun.

“What the fuck are you doing out here?” A grumbling voice asked, clicking a flashlight on and shining it in the faces of Mark and Jack, keeping Mark from seeing the faces of whoever had found them. He could only assume it was the strangers from earlier, or at least someone that was apart of their group. 

He heard the click of the gun and swallowed thickly. 

The voice asked again, “I said– what the fuck do you think you’re doing out here?” The voice was louder again. He couldn’t see just how many of them there were, but he knew there were at least two. 

Mark hadn’t responded, too stunned by fear and panic to form any words. Lucky for him, Jack had it covered. 

“Mar-k,” He said aloud. This was the only word he knew now and, apparently, he was going to use it whenever he found appropriate.


	8. An Unexpected Turn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When we left off, Mark and Jack were in a tight bind, staring down the barrel of a gun. Now, it's time to find out who's on the other side.

Mark stuttered nervously. It was difficult for him to find the right words– or any words at all– when he was staring down the barrel of a gun. He didn’t know what he could say to make them not want to shoot him. He’d just barely got away with convincing them not to shoot Jack the first time, and he wasn’t sure that he could do it again. 

“Felix?” A voice cut through the sound of the rain, “What did you find?” The flashlight lowered a bit and if Mark squinted, he could see a long haired, petite female walking towards the other two figures behind the gun. It wasn’t the female he’d seen before. The voice was completely different. Higher pitched and much sweeter with a tone that somehow indicated both intelligence and innocence all at the same time. 

“Oh,” Her voice lilted a bit with surprise when she saw them, “What are you guys doing out here?” She asked the same question they’d been prompted with originally, but there wasn’t any aggression behind it at all.

Mark finally found his voice again, “We ran out of food in our shelter,” He bluffed, “And we were just out trying to find some more supplies. I didn’t want to have to come out into the rain but I didn’t know how long we’d last without uh, without food, y’know?” Despite the pouring rain around them, Mark’s mouth felt as dry as the desert. 

“Lower the flashlight, for goodness sake,” The female said, pushing the light down so it was pointed towards the ground. It took Mark’s eyes a bit to adjust and when they did, he found himself looking at a trio that looked nothing like who he’d seen earlier. Their features were softer and kinder. They seemed to be looking at Mark and Jack with genuine confusion instead of what Mark had assumed to be anger and accusation. 

“You won’t find anything out here. Everything’s been picked dry except for about a quarter of the town, and that’s a good 30 minute walk from here,” The man holding the gun told him, pushing his soaking wet sandy blonde hair out of his eyes and off his forehead. 

“Felix, why don’t we bring them back with us? We’ve got a few extra cans to spare, and they can stay until the storm lifts.” 

The man who he assumed to be Felix looked back over his shoulder at the girl. He didn’t say anything as he seemed to be thinking over what she said. Even through the rain and the wind, Mark could tell that she wasn’t really asking. She had decided, and her tone of voice was more for the courtesy of not embarrassing the two men rather than anything else.

“I guess so,” Felix grumbled. Mark didn’t move for a few seconds. He’d all but forgotten about Jack momentarily until his friend grunted behind him. He could feel the uneasiness reappear in the air between them and the strangers, “What’s wrong with him?” The flashlight raised, but this time it was pointed at Jack’s face instead of Mark’s. 

The sudden bright beam of the flashlight in Jack’s face frustrated and confused him, causing him to yell out a loud and unintelligible noise of surprise. Mark watched him try to cover his eyes with his arms, his coordination thrown off by the sensory overload that the light had caused. 

“Nothing,” Mark lied again, “He’s just uh– He’s just been a little sick.. But it’s just a cold, maybe the flu.. Nothing too serious,” Mark swallowed, hoping they hadn’t gotten a good enough look at Jack’s face to know what the truth was. 

They’d been out in the rain long enough that it felt like his skin was soaked straight through to the bone. His hands were shivering without any control of his own and he still gripped tightly to the rope tied around Jack’s waist. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long until Felix noticed said rope. 

“What’s that for?” The other man asked. 

Before Mark had a chance to make up some excuse, to lie again, the girl spoke up.

“He’s one of them,” It was quieter at first, unsure. Then, she repeated it, louder the second time, “He’s one of them, isn’t he? You’ve been doing all the talking for him, and the storm’s not bad enough to resort to tying ropes to people…”

Mark swallowed nervously. He was quiet for a second. His brain was blank, but also running 100 miles a minute. He was trying to think of a lie, but couldn’t. He was trying to think of something he could say to keep them from hurting Jack, but it was so difficult with the rain and wind hitting him so hard. 

“Please don’t hurt him,” He finally managed to choke out. 

There was a silence between them for what must have only been a few seconds, but what felt like an eternity. Mark’s grip tightened on the rope in his hand and he pulled it just a little, causing Jack to move closer to him. This could be it, if they decided not to spare him. He could lose Jack in just a matter of seconds. There was no way he could defend them against a gun. There was absolutely no way he could win that battle.

Then suddenly, Felix was laughing. It startled Mark a bit and made him feel confused and a bit frustrated. He felt like he had missed something, like there was some joke that he was left out of. 

“What kind of people do you think we are?” The man that was not Felix asked. Mark didn’t know the answer to that question. 

“Come on,” The female was speaking now. The two males were already turning back around to head towards the SUV. With just the dim light of a nearby street lamp, he could tell she had a warm smile on her face. It was a pleasant contrast to the cold weather and harsh reception he’d received from almost every other person he’d encountered in a long time. “I think we have someone who’d like to meet you and your friend.”

For the very first time since Jack had changed, Mark’s heart stuttered in his chest as he saw her move her gaze from Mark to Jack and look at him like he was still a human being. Her smile didn’t falter or change, and she offered Jack the same kind smile she’d given to Mark. 

He didn’t know what was waiting for them back at whatever shelter these people had, but he couldn’t help feeling like it might not be so bad after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a poll on my Tumblr (jchnmulany.tumblr.com) where people could vote on who they wanted to see pop up in the fic first. Felix won, so here he is, with a bonus guest of a special lady as well. What do you think is gonna happen when they get back to their shelter? Who do you think wants to meet Mark and Jack, and why? Comments, questions, thoughts, theories, opinions, etc are more than welcome. Thanks for reading!!


	9. Another New Face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone new claims to have some information to share.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the introduction to a very important new character and the setup to the unfolding of very important information in the next chapter. Sorry if it's not too terribly exciting or action packed.

Mark wasn’t sure exactly how long it took to get to wherever Felix was taking them, but he estimated around 15 minutes. No one talked much on the way over, aside from Jack who made a few gurgling sounds as he sat next to Mark in the car. It felt wonderful to be able to move forward-- or in any direction-- without having to walk there. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been in a car that worked well enough to drive. The sound of the humming engine and the feeling of the bumps in the road as the tires rolled over it were two things he never knew he would ever miss.

When they finally arrived at their destination, Mark furrowed his brow at the sight before him. The building they’d stopped in front of was worn down and decrepit looking. He hadn’t expected a palace, but he had at least assumed that it would be a place with some kind of stability in it. This looked like it might all come crumbling down if someone even leaned on one of the walls. Mark couldn’t believe it was still standing through the storm.

“C’mon. This way,” Felix gestured around the side of the building once they were out of the car. Mark held tightly to Jack’s waist rope, keeping him closer than usual as they followed their new acquaintances. Mark hoped he wasn’t being stupid by trusting these people. He hoped with all his might that this wasn’t some elaborate trap, and that the strangers he ran into earlier wouldn’t be waiting for them wherever they were headed.

They stopped in front of a large cellar door and it took two hefty tugs on the handles from Felix and the second, nameless man to get them open. A cozy warmth billowed out of the doors, a strange but pleasant contrast to the cold temperature outside. “What is this?” Mark asked curiously as he watched Marzia and the nameless man descend down the stairs and towards the yellow light of whatever was waiting at the bottom of them.

“It’s a roof over your head and something to keep you from freezing to death,” Felix said to him, his tone quite matter-of-fact, “Get in so I can shut the doors.”

Feeling like he didn’t have much of a choice at this point, Mark started to descend the stairs himself, pulling Jack along behind him. He was thankful that Jack could still perform some motor skills that might be a little more complicated than the simple walking they usually did day in and day out. It would have been a bit much if Mark had been forced to carry him bridal style down the steps of the cellar for everyone to see-- whoever “everyone” was.

When they got to the bottom of the steps, Mark was greeted with one of the coziest looking shelters he’d come across in quite some time. It almost looked like a real, post-outbreak home. There was a throw rug in the middle of what seemed to be the sitting area. There were photos and paintings-- although some looked rather worse for wear-- on some of the walls. It was such a pleasant change from the chaos and the destruction that could be seen and witnessed on the surface above them.

“Make yourself at home,” Felix said, clapping Mark on the shoulder as he passed him by. He walked towards one of the couches and plopped down, kicking his shoes off. It wasn’t long before he was lying horizontally on the piece of furniture, taking up almost the entire thing as he dozed off.

Mark felt like the statement was easier said than done. There were 4 other people around the underground shelter, three playing cards together while the fourth kept to themselves, reading a book. He could feel Jack tugging on the end of his rope, not with his hands but with his body movements. Something had caught his attention. Mark turned around to see him walking in the direction of a small hallway he hadn’t noticed until now. He furrowed his brow and tried to pull Jack back a little closer to him again, not wanting him to wander anywhere he wasn’t allowed to go.

“He’s got a good sense of smell,” Suddenly the female he’d originally met outside was standing beside him. Mark was about to ask what she meant when she continued talking, “I’m Marzia,” She held a mug of what looked like hot tea in one hand and extended the other one out towards Mark.

“Mark,” He shook her hand and then gestured towards his friend, “That’s Jack,” He was starting to feel more and more nervous about Jack’s interest towards whatever was down that hallway.

“It’s nice to meet you both,” She took a long sip from her mug. Silence settled in the bunker for a second. Then, she spoke again, “You can let go of him in here, you know?” Marzia looked to where Mark was holding tightly to the end of Jack’s rope. Mark heard her suggestion and swallowed thickly, nodding but not loosening his grip on the rope.

“What’s down that way?” He finally asked, his curiosity and Jack’s determination getting the best of him.

“Just another room,” Felix called from his place on the couch, startling Mark a bit, “You might wanna go check it out.”

Mark looked back and forth from Marzia, to Felix, back to Marzia again. There was definitely a piece of the puzzle that he wasn’t being given here. The confusion was obvious on his face and his dripping wet clothes were making his patience wear thin.

“Come on,” Marzia took the initiative to lead them down the hallway, Mark following at a bit of a distance from her.

He wasn’t so much pulling Jack along as Jack was pulling him, actually walking in front of Mark for the first time in awhile. Whatever was down the hallway was something Jack really wanted. Mark couldn’t remember the last time he saw Jack this interested in something. At the end of the hall, there was a closed door waiting for them. Marzia knocked gently on it and waited for a small voice from the other side to grant access before she cracked it open a bit.

“Are you busy? We found some new friends that you’re going to want to meet,” She said to whoever was inside. Another female voice could be faintly heard giving her the okay to come all the way in, sounding slightly more excited than just a moment before, “Come on in,” Marzia said to Mark and Jack as she pushed the door open all the way.

When Mark stepped in, he was surprised to see that it looked nothing like the regular bedroom scene he’d expected. There were what seemed to be brain scans and xrays and other miscellaneous papers covering a desk on the far wall. One of the drawers in the desk was cracked open, revealing binders full of papers. There was a girl sat in a wheeling chair, hunched over a microscope, hair pulled up in a disheveled bun that sat on top of her head. He didn’t know what he was walking into, but he had a feeling he might find out soon.

The girl looked up from her microscope and turned partly around in her chair. Her eyes scanned Mark at first, just momentarily, before looking at Jack. When she saw him, she gasped. She was up and out of her chair in a matter of seconds. Jack had been in front of Mark due to his strange interest in getting into the room, but when Mark saw her approaching him quickly, he stepped in front of his friend. Holding one arm straight out behind him to keep Jack blocked from anything she might try, he felt his heart beating in his chest. He was immediately ready to fight anyone he had to fight, refusing to let Jack get hurt.

When she saw him become defensive, she stopped moving forward and took a few steps back instead. Her hands went up in the arm in a surrender like motion. For a second they just stood in silence before she finally spoke.

“I’m not going to hurt him,” Mark didn’t know if he could believe her. He waited for her to say something more, keeping his guard up as he wrapped his arm backwards behind him and around Jack as best as he could, “It’s just been awhile since I’ve seen someone who’s been infected up close.”

“What do you mean “awhile”?” Mark asked.

“We used to have a few just like your friend,” Marzia spoke up. Mark had almost forgotten she was there until now, “But they uh-- Well, to put it bluntly, they died.” She leaned up against one of the blank walls.

“We were taking care of them.. I was examining them, taking blood samples and all that. It was really handy to have them down here with us, and we were able to keep them safe. It was a win-win for both sides.. Until they basically disintegrated.” The nameless girl explained. The words she spoke just sparked a hundred more questions in Mark’s mind. She seemed to read his thoughts because she was speaking again before he could say anything, “My name is Signe,” She went to extend a hand, but took it back when she saw Mark clench his jaw at her action, “I was a one of the many scientists working on a cure for the so-called infection before the larger majority gave up on finding one,” She moved to sit back down in her chair.

Mark relaxed a bit, although he still felt like he needed to be careful. If she’d been using others like Jack as what he could only think to be a type of lab-rat, he didn’t know if he really wanted to trust her with Jack quite yet. He didn’t have enough information to make his decision.

He jumped a bit when he heard the door close, glancing behind him to realize that Marzia had left the room. It was just the three of them together now, but Jack’s detachment from the conversation made him feel more like it was just the two of them.

“I’m not your enemy,” She said, leaning back in her chair, “In fact, I really admire you for caring for him like you obviously do. Not many people want to risk sticking around someone once they become infected.”

“He’s my best friend,” Mark said simply, “I couldn’t just leave him.”

“I understand,” She nodded, smiling a bit, “I understand completely, and I think I can help you and your friend-,”

“Jack.”

“I think I can help you and Jack,” She repeated with the new information, “If you’d let me.”

“Help us how?” Mark felt a tug on the rope as Jack had wandered far enough away to lose any slack that he had. He pulled him back, reining him in again.

She didn’t say anything for what felt like forever, worrying her bottom lip in between her teeth as she thought something over. She sighed softly and finally spoke again, “There’s a lot that you need to know,” Signe said, leaning back in the chair and crossing one leg over the other. She gestured towards a bed near her chair, “Please, have a seat. This is going to take a while.”


	10. The Truth Comes Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The information Mark's been waiting for.

Mark sat down hesitantly on the bed, feeling uneasy. He pulled Jack to sit down beside him, but it didn’t last long. Jack slid down off the mattress and laid down on the floor like his bones were made of Jello. He stared up at the ceiling, a look of intense focus on his face. Mark didn’t bother to look up and see what he was focused on. He was far too worried about what Signe had to say. 

“So,” She started, letting out a deep breath, “Like I said before, I was originally a part of a team of scientists that was working on a cure, trying to find a way to turn those affected back into functioning human beings,” Signe looked from Mark, to Jack, then back to Mark again, “We were making progress, but it was slow progress. We lost a few scientists to the so-called disease itself, and a few others just up and quit.. I can’t blame them. Sometimes being with your family feels like the most important thing to do,” She shrugged. 

Mark looked at her silently for a few seconds before asking, “Why do you keep saying “so-called disease”? That’s what it is. A disease. An infection. Right?” 

“That’s just it..”Signe smoothed out the bottom of the worn out lab coat she was wearing. Mark couldn’t tell if she was stalling, or if she was just giving him time to prepare himself for whatever she was about to say, “The media coverage on the outbreak wasn’t 100% correct,” She looked back up to meet his eyes again, “They started reporting about it before any scientists had really figured out exactly what the problem was, and soon it was too out of control to make any corrections,” She swallowed thickly. 

“I think they might have done it on purpose-- lying about what the problem was, I mean.. It’s still terrifying for there to be some infection running rampant, turning people into brain-dead zombies. But it’s a lot easier to accept than-,” She paused. 

“Than what?” Mark pressed. 

She bit her bottom lip again, like she had earlier, and looked at him for just a second or two. Then, she turned her chair a bit and opened the middle drawer of the desk. She was rifling through whatever was inside. He could hear plastic clicking against plastic, the occasional shuffle of papers. He wanted to lean over and see what was inside, but he restrained himself from doing so. 

Finally, she pulled out a medium sized petri dish with a top screwed snugly onto it. In the center he could see some kind of insect-like creature. It was an almost translucent, blue tinted specimen with four legs on either side of it’s body. It’s body had an almost gelatinous texture to it. It reminded Mark of the slimy goo he used to get from the quarter machines at the bowling alley as a kid. 

The entire thing was about the size of a silver dollar. She flipped it over in her hands so that he could see it’s underside, revealing a circular mouth with sharp, razor-like teeth lining the entire mouth. It looked like an incredibly painful suction cup just ready to hook onto someone and never let go. 

“What is that?” Mark’s voice was a bit shaky. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer. 

“It’s what causes that,” She gestured towards Jack, and Mark knew she meant the zombification, “It’s what the media tried to pass off as an infection or a disease.” 

“But what is it, exactly?” Mark asked again, his voice a lot quieter than before. 

“It’s a parasite,” She said simply, looking it over in the petri dish for a few more seconds before she turned back to her desk and started rifling through some papers on top of it. She talked as she searched through them, “They can start out the size of a flea, and can live in a variety of different environments while it’s looking for a host,” She seemed to be having difficulties finding whatever she was looking for. 

Signe stood up from her desk chair now and went to look through some papers on another surface in the room, “They can infect water supplies. They can be transmitted through bug bites. Hell, someone could even be unlucky enough to rub up against the wrong tree and have one latch onto them.”

“So you’re telling me that all those people out there, everyone who’s been infected and been wandering around practically brain-dead, just got bit by a parasite?” His brows furrowed together. 

“No,” She shook her head. Finally, she found what she was looking for, “It doesn’t just bite someone and suck their blood for a while,” Signe sat back down in her rolling chair and moved it closer towards where Mark was sitting on the bed, “They start out small and burrow their way into the victim’s skin,” She opened up the manilla file she was holding and handed a photo to Mark. The photo showed what might have been a forearm, with a tiny hole not much bigger than a pin prick, “Once they’re in there, they get into the bloodstream and work their way up to the brain.” 

She flipped through a few more papers in her manilla folder, “The toxins they emit through their skin is what makes the victim start feeling so sick. It starts to flow through their blood and starts to poison them before the parasite has a chance to get to the brain. The body doesn’t know what to do, and so it starts to shut down,” She took out another piece of paper, but this one looked more like something scanned on a computer rather than an actual photo. 

He could figure out that it was a brain scan. One half of the paper had a scan from the top of the brain, while the other half had one from the side. The quality wasn’t the best but even with the grainy, pixelated image he could tell that the brain itself looked murky and foggy. She handed him another scan. By reading the small words at the bottom of the paper he knew that it was the back of the brain. If he looked carefully, he could see a much bigger version of the mouth he’d seen in the petri dish. It’s teeth were protruding out of it’s mouth and digging into the brain of the poor person it belonged to. 

Mark felt like he was going to be sick. 

“It attaches itself to the brain, once it gets into the host’s head,” Signe started speaking again, “It’s skin has a mucus-like texture to it, and when it attaches itself to the brain, it slowly encases the entire thing with it’s own skin. Once the entire brain is covered… Well… That happens,” She gestured towards Jack who was still lying on the floor, paying no attention to the information Signe was sharing, “It’s host becomes nothing but that-- a host for it to feed off of and get nourishment from.”

“But.. There are parasites all around the world that we’ve been able to deal with before. It’s.. Shouldn’t it be easier to handle if it’s just a parasite?” Mark’s mouth was dry and his hands were sweaty. 

“Just a parasite?? Are you even listening to me at all?” Signe pressed two fingers to the bridge of her nose before she started speaking again, “This parasite anchors itself to the brain. We can’t go in and remove it surgically because that would rip a part of the brain out. We have to be extremely careful with any injections or medications we might want to try because if something goes wrong, then the brain will die and we’ll lose the host for good.. It’s not “just a parasite”, and it’s certainly not any easier to deal with than an infection would be.”

Mark didn’t say anything. Not only did he feel like he’d just been scolded for saying something so idiotic, but he also needed time to wrap his head around all the information he’d just learned. It wasn’t like anything he’d ever thought up on his own, or would have ever thought to guess. He looked at Jack, just staring down at him on the floor for a long time. To think that right inside his head there was an insect feeding off of his brain and using his body as a servant to fulfill its own needs made him feel sick again. 

“You said your team was making progress on a cure though, didn’t you?” He said. 

“Yes, but very slow progress. I’ve had to do most of the rest of the research on my own, and it’s been difficult to do anything ever since we lost our previously infected friends,” Signe was also looking down at Jack now. Mark didn’t respond, so she continued, “Jack is the first we’ve come across in a long time, living in this town. Most all of them get wiped out by the other groups around here,” She fiddled with a button on her lab coat. Mark still said nothing. 

“I know you really care about him,” She prompted, “But it would really be helpful for me-- for all of us-- if I could run some tests on him. Just simple ones, like taking some blood and testing his reflexes and basic things like that.”

Mark shook his head quickly. He fought the urge to get down on the floor and pull Jack into his lap to physically protect him, in case she didn’t want to take no for an answer.

“Please,” She pressed on, “There won’t be any experimental cures used on him and I won’t put him in harm’s way at all. He’s got more personality than any infected human I’ve ever seen before.. He has to be something special. You have to let me look at him…. Do you know what kind of breakthroughs I could make by collecting some data from him? We would be a few steps towards finding a solution, towards removing the parasite.”

Mark swallowed thickly and looked up to meet her eyes, “Removing the parasite…” He repeated. He was quiet for a few seconds before he continued, “If you were able to remove it, would he get his thoughts back? His memories? His everything?” 

“Maybe..” She said honestly, “Hopefully.. It would probably take some time, but I’d like to think so, yes.”

“And you won’t hurt him?”

She shook her head. 

“And if I say stop, that I don’t want you doing anything else with him, you’ll stop? Immediately?”

She nodded. 

Mark felt like he was just a few seconds from vomiting from overwhelming nerves and anxiety and fear. Somewhere inside of him, there was a new light of hope-- tiny, but still there. She knew more about what was going on than anyone else did. She had given him more information in the past few minutes than he’d been able to figure out on his own in the past few months. Signe seemed to know what she was doing, and she seemed to have everyone’s best interest in mind. 

He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then, he spoke.   
“Okay,” He said finally, “You can run your tests.”


	11. Running Some Tests

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Signe runs some tests on Jack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter gets a bit descriptive with blood and gore and needles and such. if you're squeamish with that stuff, this might be a difficult chapter for you. i'm sorry, but it had to be done!! also, sorry it took me awhile to get this done. it was a toughy for me to find the right muse for. questions, comments, feedback, etc is always welcome! enjoy!

“What are you gonna do, exactly?” Mark asked, his leg bouncing up and down as he sat nervously on the bed. Jack was seated in a chair next to Signe’s desk, although it had taken quite a long time to get him to sit and stay there. The room was a new place to him. Signe made the comment that he acted a bit like a dog, wanting to wander around the room to find each individual smell and investigate where it was coming from. 

“Well, I’d like to run a few different tests,” She said as she fiddled with a few different things on her desk. She’d pulled out a few needles and syringes, along with some q-tips. Already sitting atop the desk was a machine with about half a dozen wires attached to it, suction cups at the end of individual wire. He could probably make a few guesses about what she might use each one for, but he’d rather know exactly what was about to happen rather than having his own vague assumptions.

“I’m going to take a DNA sample, and that should be the easiest,” She picked up one of the cotton swabs, showing him what would be used for the test she was speaking of. He almost laughed. Mark didn’t think any of these tests would be easy with the way Jack liked to fight him on every little thing. Jack seemed to find most everything inconvenient for himself, and these tests would surely fall in that category as well. 

“Then we’ll draw some blood,” She gestured to the syringes and vials on the table, “And then we’ll hook up some electrodes to him and see what kind of readings we can get.” Finally she gestured towards the machine with the wires attached. Mark wasn’t sure what readings she was looking for, exactly. He didn’t ask. He probably wouldn’t have understood the answer she gave him anyway. 

She picked up a mini flashlight he hadn’t seen before and flicked it on. Signe rolled her chair forward until she was directly in front of Jack and snapped to get his attention. Mark’s whole body tensed and he went silent as he watched what she was doing. She hadn’t told him about this part of her ‘tests’ and he was incredibly uncomfortable with the fact that she hadn’t clued him in on all her procedures. 

“What are you doing?” He asked, his jaw tense. He sat at the edge of the bed. He was ready to get up and push her away from Jack at any moment.

“I’m just going to see how responsive he is and how well he can listen to instructions.. I can also try to check his eyes at the same time if he’ll cooperate with me,” She spoke to him with a tone that made her words sound like an afterthought, not completely focused on Mark as she kept most of her attention on Jack instead. 

“Jack,” She said, “Look at me,” It took a few more times of her snapping her fingers in front of his face to get him to look in the right direction. Around 6 or 7 snaps, she had just about as much of Jack’s attention as she was going to get. His eyes didn’t totally focus on her, but he was looking in her direction. She put her finger up in front of his face and wiggled it a few times until his eyes honed in on it, “Follow my finger, okay?” Mark wanted to tell her that Jack wasn’t going to understand what she was telling him, but he didn’t. 

“Look up,” She prompted before moving her finger higher into the air. Mark was shocked to see that Jack had followed directions. He wondered if it was Signe’s actual directions he was listening to, or if Jack was just following the object she’d gotten him to focus on. Either way, it was working. Mark was impressed. 

She finished testing his eyes and scribbled some notes down in a looping font on a piece of paper. He couldn’t read them from where he was sitting, and he didn’t want to be too nosy and ask what they said. He held out hope that she’d tell him about whatever her findings were when all of this came to an end. 

“What’s next?” He asked anxiously. 

“I need to take his blood,” She said with a sigh, “I already know it’s not going to be easy. I’m not sure how he reacts to pain, but it will be uncomfortable for him at the least,” She sat back for a second and looked at Jack, seeming to be contemplating something. 

“He doesn’t ever really feel pain,” Mark told her. 

She looked over towards him and furrowed her brow.

He got up off the bed and moved towards where Jack was sitting, “See this?” He pointed to stitch marks that went from the middle of Jack’s right cheek to the top of his cheek bone, “He’s covered in stitchings like these. His skin is fragile in certain areas-- most of them, really-- and it just kind of tears sometimes if he scratches at it, or if he knocks against something too hard. I have to carry around a needle and thread with me so that I can sew him back up when it happens.”

“Really?” Signe was looking at Mark with awe and fascination, “And it doesn’t seem to hurt him?” Mark shook his head, “This might be easier than I thought.”

Mark laughed a bit, “Well don’t get too ahead of yourself,” He pulled up an empty crate and sat down next to Jack’s chair, facing him, “Jack didn’t like having his blood drawn even before all this--” He gestured to Jack’s entire body with his hand, meaning the infection, and then continued, “So if there’s any part of his brain still alive in there, I doubt he’s just gonna let you stick a needle in his arm like it’s nothing.”

Signe let out another long sigh. 

“I might be able to keep his attention long enough for you to get whatever you need,” Mark suggested, although he wasn’t sure that he’d be able to do what he said. It wasn’t really up to him what Jack kept his attention on. Jack did what Jack wanted, and it was difficult to keep him on track if he didn’t want to be. 

“It won’t take long. The most difficult part is just finding a vein that’s big enough for me to get the needle into,” She gave him a small but grateful smile. 

Mark didn’t need to snap his fingers or make a lot of commotion to get Jack’s attention. Instead, he just tapped his hand on Jack’s shoulder twice and spoke softly, “Hey bud,” He waited a few seconds, “Jackaboy, look this way,” With another gentle tap on Jack’s shoulder, he turned his head to look in Mark’s direction. Mark smiled warmly at his friend, “How ya doin’ buddy? You doin alright?” He knew he wouldn’t get an answer from Jack but the calm one-sided conversation put Mark at ease. 

“This is Signe. She’s a nice lady, and she’s just gonna run some tests on you so we can figure out what’s going on up in that noggin of yours, okay?” It sounded a bit like Mark was talking to a child or a dog. He was waiting for Signe to say something about how Jack didn’t understand him so why did he bother, but she was silent as she worked on readying her instruments. 

“It might be a little bit uncomf-,” Jack cut Mark off mid-sentence with a gurgling groan and Mark nodded as if he’d said something coherent, “Yeah I know, it’s not fun. But it’s important, and I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you, okay?”

Mark had been doing a good job keeping Jack focused up until he heard Signe curse under her breath. He looked over to what she was doing, his heart beating quickly as the anxiety and adrenaline started pumping again. It wasn’t a good thing to hear someone curse when they were using a needle on someone you cared about. 

“What?”

“It tore, just like you said,” Her tone was full of frustration as she hurriedly surveyed the area around her. There was a partially tied tourniquet tied just above Jack’s elbow and Mark could see where the skin below it had torn apart a small bit. 

“What are you doing?” Mark asked. 

“Looking for something to stop the bleed--,” She stopped speaking suddenly when she looked back at Jack’s arm and saw that there wasn’t any blood coming from the tear itself. She sat still for a few seconds, a puzzled look on her face, “He’s not bleeding?” It came out as more of a question than a statement. 

Mark shook his head, “Nope.”

“How?” The question sounded more turned inwards towards herself than to Mark, and he wouldn’t have had an answer for her even if she wanted one, “It doesn’t make any sense..”

“I thought you said you had a few infected to observe for awhile.”

“We did,” She pulled out a magnifying glass from one of the drawers and leaned close to the tear. Jack tried to swat the glass away a few times, but Mark reached up and gently grabbed his hand. He held it in his own and shook his head no at Jack when his friend looked in his direction. Jack seemed to understand this more than Mark thought he would. 

“We did,” She repeated, her eyebrows furrowed as she examined the wound, “But at that point the rest of the group wanted to keep them more… protected, and wouldn’t let me do much in terms of tests,” She rifled through the same drawer that the magnifying glass came from and pulled out a pair of tweezers, “Plus none of them had been fully infected for very long,” She prodded at the inside of the wound with the tweezers, “And they hadn’t been treated as..” She searched for the right word and then looked over at Mark, “Normally as you treat Jack.”

“What do you mean?” Mark asked, ready to be offended or upset with her implications. 

“You treat him like he’s still.. I don’t know-- human, for lack of a better word,” She said, still looking at Mark. She shrugged, “You talk to him like he can understand you, and you take his own feelings and possible thoughts into account before you do anything with him. Other people would just make decisions for someone like him. They’d figure he’s gone and he doesn’t have any wants or feelings or whatever else he had before he got infected.” 

Mark knew that he treated Jack differently than most others treated the infected. Most everyone else tried to run from them or shoot them on the spot. Of course Mark himself ran from any of the infected that weren’t Jack, but he couldn’t trust them as much as he could Jack. He didn’t know them like he did Jack.

“I couldn’t leave him just because he got sick,” Mark said simply. He wasn’t used to someone talking to him about Jack in a way that wasn’t negative, “I hoped… I knew that someone had to be working on a cure somewhere and so I thought, if I took him with me, I’d find someone eventually who might get him healthy again,” He was still holding Jack’s hand and he squeezed it once as a comforting movement, “And if he’s ever going to be healthy again, then I can’t treat him like he’s anything but my best friend now. Because if I stop treating him like my best friend, then what’s the point of even taking him with me,” He shrugged and looked from Signe, to Jack, and back to Signe again. 

Signe didn’t say anything in response. She just gave Mark a soft and genuine smile and then went back to observing the tear in Jack’s arm.

It was silent for a bit, with her digging around with the tweezers. Mark didn’t look at what she was doing, because it was making him feel a bit squeamish and uncomfortable. Sometimes Jack would make a sound or two, or try to pull his hand away from Mark’s to swat Signe away, but other than that he was fairly compliant. 

During the moments of silence, Mark couldn’t help but get lost in his own thoughts for a bit. He found it so strange that just an hour or so ago, they were rushing through the pouring rain by themselves. They were trying to escape the city and assumed that the only other people in the town were ones that were out to kill them. He had no idea when he was going to be able to sleep or eat or rest safely and soundly again, and he knew almost nothing about Jack’s condition. He was lost, both literally and metaphorically, trying to make it through the world with his best friend literally tied to him, depending on him to make the right choices for their own survival. 

Now, everything was different. They were in a warm room inside a safe basement. They’d met kind people who respected Mark’s decision to keep Jack around and were willing to accommodate for the two of them. He’d found out more about Jack’s condition than he thought he’d ever know, and he was sitting beside a woman who actually knew what she was doing when it came to the scientific side of taking care of Jack. It felt good to finally be in a place that was secure, even if he didn’t know how long they’d be staying. 

It startled Mark a bit when Signe spoke again. He’d gotten so lost in his thoughts that he hadn’t been expecting it. At some point she’d reached into yet another drawer and pulled out her own needle and a thinner version of the thread he kept on him. She’d threaded it through the needle and was poised over Jack’s arm, waiting for an answer to a question Mark hadn’t quite caught. 

“Sorry, what did you say?”

“You usually just stitch it up like normal, right? Nothing special?” He nodded his head at her and she nodded back before looking back to the tear in Jack’s arm and stitching it up a lot more precisely than his big, clumsy hands usually did. 

While he was waiting for her to finish, he looked over at the desk and saw something sitting on it that hadn’t been there just moments prior. It was a petri dish with a clump of something on it. He could guess that it came out of Jack, with liquids pooling under it that he could only assume were from Jack as well, but he couldn’t tell what it was exactly. 

“What’s that?” 

Signe looked over to see what he was talking about, although there weren’t many things he could be referencing to.

“I think they’re eggs,” She said as she finished up Jack’s arm. She snipped off the extra thread and then rolled over closer to Mark with the magnifying glass and petri dish in her hand. Signe handed the glass to him and held the petri dish so he could look at them himself. 

In their magnified state he could see that they were indeed multiple small oval objects stuck together. Their outer layer was a milky, transparent, gel-like substance and upon closer inspection, it was possible to see small dark specks in the center of each one. It sent chills down Mark’s spine, as he could only imagine that they were the eggs of whatever had latched onto Jack’s brain. Growing inside these small ovals were tiny world destroyers, waiting to hatch and join the army of others that had already infiltrated the population. 

“I found them inside his arm while I was looking around in the tear,” She was taking off the gloves she’d been using. The tourniquet was off Jack’s arm and his hand was free for him to start rubbing at the clearing agitated area that Signe had been prodding around in. It was her turn to swat his hand away now and although Jack grunted out a long noise at her, he didn’t try to rub at the area again. 

“I still need a blood sample, but I’d like to take some time to look at these and I think we’ve put him through enough for now,” She took the magnifying glass away from Mark and put both the dish and the glass back on the desk. 

Just then, there was a knock on the door. 

It opened and the young man he remembered as Felix poked his head into the room, “Dinner’s ready if you want it,” He didn’t stick around to get a response before he left the door a crack and disappeared again. 

Mark hadn’t realized how hungry he was until he was focused on something else besides Jack, and Signe’s tests. His stomach growled loudly and Signe laughed a bit, “I’m not hungry, but you should go out and get some food,” She told Mark, not looking in his direction as she started to clean up her desk. 

There was a smell already wafting through the small opening in the door, and Mark started to feel weak as he continued to realize just how hungry he was. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had an actual meal.

“Does he eat?” Signe was speaking again, gesturing towards Jack.

“Yeah, but not anything that you’d have handy… Mostly dead animals,” Mark ran his clammy hands through his hair and stood up. 

“Alright well.. Maybe somebody can run out tomorrow and see if they can round anything up for him. Do you think he’ll be okay in the meantime?” She asked. 

“Oh yeah,” Mark chuckled, “I mean, he’s always hungry. But he’ll be fine for now.”

“Alright,” She nodded at him and gave him a kind smile, “Thanks for being so great about letting me look him over,” Signe said, her voice a lot softer and less professional than it had been just moments before, “I’d like to run the rest of them later, if that’s alright.”

Mark nodded.

“You can leave him in here with me while you eat, if you want. I promise I’ll keep him safe,” She said, not waiting for Mark’s answer before she turned back to start fiddling with things on her desk again. 

Mark stood in the middle of the room and thought her offer through. When he’d first showed up, he had no idea if he could trust anyone in the bunker. But he’d just spent a good hour and a half-- if not longer-- with Signe and she seemed to put a lot of care and gentility into the way she handled Jack. He thought that maybe, just maybe, he could trust her. It would be his first time leaving Jack for more than a few minutes in a while, and it would the very first time he’d left Jack alone with someone else since he’d been fully infected. It was a scary, chest-tightening thought. However, Mark knew it needed to be done. 

“I’ll see you in a bit, buddy,” He said to Jack, who paid no attention to his words. 

Then, he turned on his heels and headed out the door, leaving Jack behind as he followed the savory smell towards whatever waited for him in the kitchen.


	12. A Feast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark gets something to eat and has a little chat with new friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is pretty uneventful. I'm sorry it took so long for such little information. I hope you guys enjoy. 
> 
> By the way, I have a blog for updates in between chapters if you'd like to follow it. 
> 
> You can find it here: http://rlysteph.blogspot.com/

“The food’s nothing too fancy but it’s pretty good,” Felix told Mark when he entered the main area. Marzia already had a plate made up for him, with toasted bread and beans and some kind of cooked meat. 

“No no,” He shook his head, “It looks delicious,” He thanked Marzia and took his plate and a plastic fork before going to sit down at the table people had been playing cards at when he’d first arrived. Mark couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen or smelled a meal that looked this good. His stomach grumbled loudly as he looked down at what was on his plate.

Any other time, Mark might have worried about being polite or well-mannered, but once he took his first bite all of that went out the window. Just the first taste of the hot food made him realize just how hungry he was, and remembered just how good it tasted to eat a hot meal. He was very vaguely aware of Felix sitting across the table from him. It didn’t cross his mind whether or not he was being judged as he shoveled big scoops of beans into his mouth. 

He couldn’t put his finger on the taste of the meat. It was a strange combination of chicken and pork, and it wasn’t incredibly recognizable just by looking at it. Of course he didn’t spend a lot of time gawking and gazing at it, so someone else might have been able to figure it out upon closer inspection. Someone else might have also considered it a bad idea to eat strange meet from strangers they’d just met-- but Mark was too hungry to care about any of that. 

When he was about halfway through the piece of meat on his plate, Felix spoke. 

“So what’s your deal?”

Mark looked up at him from across the table and furrowed his brow. He swallowed the food that was in his mouth before speaking. 

“What do you mean?”

“You and him,” Felix gestured towards the hallway with a nod of his head, “Were you guys together or something, before he got infected? Is that why you keep him around?” 

“No, nothing like that,” Mark shook his head and took a sip of water from a cup Marzia must have set in front of him at some point. He shrugged, “He’s my best friend. He’s not from here-- the US, I mean,” He slowed down his eating, feeling better and a little less ravenous now that he had something in his stomach, “We met when I was studying abroad in Ireland when I was in college. We’ve been best friends for years but this was his first long term trip out to the US. He only had a few days left before he went back when all of this broke out..” 

“That’s some pretty shit timing, huh?” Felix laughed but Marzia cut it short when she elbowed him in the side. 

“Did he get infected early on?” Marzia asked, her voice sounding delicate and gentle. 

Mark shook his head, “We’d stuck it out and been surviving okay for a few months before he started showing any signs of being sick. I’m not really sure when or where he picked it up in the first place..” He pulled a small bit off the half piece of bread and wadded it up in his fingers, playing with it instead of eating it, “We’d been really careful, as far as we thought. But it’s hard to look out for signs of any infected areas when you don’t really know what’s infecting people in the first place, y’know?” 

He looked up and across the table at Marzia and Felix. She nodded and he just gave a tight lipped but sympathetic smile. 

“This might sound ridiculous but-,” Mark paused for a second, thinking twice about whether or not he really wanted to continue talking. Then, he spoke again, “I think I’m glad that he’s still chugging along, even if he’s infected, yknow? It’s.. It’s better than the alternative.”

“Being dead?” Felix said. Marzia elbowed him in the side again. 

“Yeah…” Mark nodded, “Being dead..”

There were a few moments of silence before Marzia spoke up again.

“Where were you guys headed when we found you?”

“Just out of town,” Mark told her, “We were staying in an empty house in a residential area here when some people found us. They weren’t too pleased about me having Jack around and they uh, they tried to shoot him,” Mark rubbed his temple with two fingers, feeling tense just at the thought of the experience, “I knew it wasn’t safe to stay, so we were heading out.”

Felix rolled his eyes. 

“Those guys are assholes,” He said, “They’ve got a few different places in town that they’ve “claimed” as their own, and they think they control the place. They’ve left us alone ‘cuz they can’t find this place,” He gestured around at the basement, “But they’d probably try to rope us into whatever bullshit they’ve got set up if they could find us.” 

“How long have they been here?” Mark asked. 

“We’re not sure. They were already set up when we got into town and decided to stay here. They’ve only seemed to grow in numbers since we got here, although we’re not entirely sure where the new people are coming from,” Marzia tightened her ponytail. 

“We try to stay as far away from them as possible. They don’t have the same..” Felix paused as he seemed to search his brain for the right word, “Morals as we do.”

“They go out on hunts for people like Jack,” Marzia’s face twisted up in disgust when she spoke the words, “We typically have a rule that we don’t shoot anyone unless we absolutely have to, and because of that we’ve only ever had to shoot a few.. Even then, we still felt terrible, and did what we could to bury the dead as best as we could.”

“But them? It’s like they see it as a game, or like some kind of sport.. We hear the big engines of their cars rolling around and their guns going off like it’s an actual full on war out there.. Anyone in town who survives being infected for more than a few days is either extremely lucky, or is about to run out of time.”

Felix nodded in agreement to what Marzia said. 

“I don’t know what you did to keep them from killing him, but it must have been some kind of miracle work,” Felix chuckled a bit.

“I couldn’t let them hurt Jack,” Mark said simply. The two sitting across from him nodded in understanding. 

“I’m glad we found you,” Marzia told him, “And that someone didn’t get trigger happy and blow your head off before we could take you in,” She narrowed her eyes at Felix and he gave her a guilty, apologetic expression in return. 

“Yeah, I’m glad too,” Mark laughed, but it was more nervous than genuine.

More silence as Mark finished up eating everything on his plate. Marzia offered to take it away and he let her. He yawned and ran his hands through his hair a few times. It was almost dry, although his clothes were still pretty thoroughly soaked through. Felix offered to bring him some dry sweatpants and a t-shirt while he waited for his other clothes to dry, and soon he was changed into comfortable clothes that made him feel even more sleepy than he had been before. 

Marzia was setting up a bed for him with blankets and pillows on one of the couches when Felix spoke up again. 

“Do you ever feel guilty?”

“What do you mean?” Mark asked. 

“You said he was here on a trip to visit you, right? And he was only a few days from leaving shit hit the fan? It all started here in the states before it spread out to other countries. He would have been safe for at least a little while longer if he’d been back home in Ireland, before it spread. Do you ever feel like mayb--”

“Felix!” Marzia scolded, but he ignored her and finished his sentence.

“Do you ever feel like maybe it’s your fault, at least a little bit, that he got infected?”

Mark couldn’t bring himself to speak to give Felix an answer. His mouth was dry and he knew his face was beet red. Suddenly all the food in his stomach wasn’t sitting well. He had to fight tooth and nail to keep from throwing it all back up. He hadn’t been prepared for this.

Of course he thought about it. He blamed himself once at least every day for the way Jack was, for the struggles they had to go through because Jack was infected. He tried to tell himself that it wasn’t his fault, that the infection would have spread to the rest of the world eventually and it was probably better that they had each other when it all broke loose in the US. 

But then he’d start to think about Jack’s family and friends back home, in Ireland. How panicked they must have been when they heard what was happening in the states while Jack was visiting there. How miserable they must have been not knowing if he was okay or not when he didn’t come home. The fact that now Mark didn’t know if they were okay, or alive, or infected now that it spread. He didn’t deserve to have Jack with him when his family and friends were stuck back at home, thousands and thousands of miles away, worrying about his safety. 

“Yes,” He croaked out the response after several minutes of silence. Mark hadn’t realized that a few tears had welled in his eyes. He wiped them away with the back of his hand before they had a chance to fall down his cheek, “Yes, I do.. I wish..” He sighed heavily, “I wish he hadn’t been here when it all happened. I think he would have been safer in Ireland. They had more time to prepare, to take precautions and stay safer after seeing what happened here..” He didn’t look up. 

It was silent for a few more seconds. 

“It’s not your fault, Mark,” Marzia tried to reassure him, “You had no way of knowing this would happen. Nobody did.. And he’s lucky that he was with you when he got infected. Who knows what anyone else would have done with him back home if he got like this.”

Mark knew that she was trying to help, but her words did nothing to help the tightness in his chest or the guilt in his stomach.

“I just want to take care of him as best as I can…” He wiped a few more tears away. 

Nobody said anything for a long time while Marzia finished setting up the bed for Mark. Felix went to put away leftovers in tin foil or tupperware and Mark spent some time cleaning himself up a bit and using the bathroom. He tried not to think about Felix’s question, and tried not to worry too much about leaving Jack alone for so long while he slept. He knew he needed the sleep. It was going to make him go crazy if he went too long without a good amount of it. He just hoped his dreams weren’t too bad, with so many people he didn’t know around him. 

“Bed’s ready whenever you are, Mark,” Marzia called to him. 

He exited the bathroom and moved straight towards the makeshift bed she’d prepared on the couch. It was ten million times more comfortable than anything he’d slept on in weeks-- months, even. His tense muscles started to relax and the aches in his bones lessened just a bit. It felt like he was floating, and all the thoughts in his head were clouded up and blocked out by a haze of sleep. 

He mumbled a thank you to Marzia. 

If she responded, he didn’t hear her. 

Within just a few minutes, he was fast asleep.


	13. Rested and Rejuvenated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark wakes up to some interesting information.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't posted a chapter in awhile because life got crazy and I got a bit of writer's block. But here's a new chapter! Enjoy!

When Mark woke up, he found himself in almost complete darkness. There was a thin slice of light coming from the room he remembered to be Signe’s. He welcomed the peaceful darkness, closing his eyes for a few more minutes and breathing slowly and deeply. His muscles felt the kind of sore your body gets after sleeping in one position for too long, but it was nothing compared to the aching pains he’d been feeling in his body from constantly being on the move for so long. His ever present headache had gone away and the pain in his feet had faded to a dull throbbing.

He could have laid there on the couch for so much longer. He was tempted to never get up again. In that moment, the idea of having to get up and go out into the harsh world of reality again sounded like absolute misery. It hadn’t been a walk in the park up to this point but after having a break from it all, going back into it wasn’t something he was looking forward to. 

With his eyes closed in the darkness, he wished he was in a wonderful universe where he would turn the lights on and find himself back in his apartment. He’d be in his bedroom, in his own bed. He’d go out into the living room and find his dear friend Jack healthy and happy, deep asleep on the pull-out futon couch. He’d smile. Maybe he’d pad over to the kitchen in sock-covered feet and grab a handful of his favorite cereal before going to the bathroom and climbing back into bed. Things had all been one big nightmare. He’d wake up in the morning a few hours later and they’d spend the rest of Jack’s days in the US having a good time. Everything would be okay. 

But whatever universe that existed in, he wasn’t apart of. 

After about fifteen minutes of lying motionless in the dark, he opened his eyes again. Mark raised his hands over his head and stretched his back. He could see the faint outline of someone sleeping on the other couch, and maybe some others sleeping on a cot towards the other side of the room. He didn’t want to wake them, so he stood up as quietly as possible and tried to make it through the room without running into or stepping on anything. 

He made his way towards the room with the light on, and knocked lightly once he reached the door. 

“Come in,” Signe said from inside. Mark pushed the door open and squinted as his eyes adjusted to the light, “Sleep well?”

Mark nodded, “How long was I out for?”

“About a day and a half, I think,” Signe told him as she twisted her chair around and gestured for him to take a seat in the empty one beside her desk. 

Mark’s eyes widened in surprise. He couldn’t have possibly been out that long. It had only felt like a few hours. How had he not woken up with everyone around him moving about and making noise? Had they tried to stay quiet so that he could sleep? He hadn’t meant to be an inconvenience to anyone. 

“You were passed out pretty hard. We didn’t want to wake you up, since you seemed to need the rest,” She told him, “Do you feel rested?”

Mark thought for a second. 

“I don’t know..” He rubbed one of his eyes, “I feel kind of groggy right now.. I’ll probably feel a little better once I wake up more.” 

Signe nodded her head. They sat in silence for a few seconds. 

“Jack’s been holding up surprisingly well while you’ve been sleeping,” She said. 

The guilt hit him like a ton of bricks. He hadn’t thought about Jack not seeing him or interacting with him for over 24 hours. Mark didn’t want to sound vain, but he wasn’t sure how Jack would react to not seeing him at all after being around him and being taken care of by him for so long. According to Signe, he’d done fine. 

“We kept the door to my room open most of the time, to give him a chance to roam if he wanted, but he stayed in here mostly,” She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, “It was really interesting to see his habits.. He’s quite the character, really,” They both laughed. Mark nodded in agreement. 

“Where is he now?” Mark asked, a bit anxiously. 

Signe pointed towards a darker corner of the room. Mark’s gaze followed to where she was pointing and sure enough, there he was. 

Jack was laying on what might have been a futon mattress at one point, a blanket laid on top of his body, out like a light. Mark hadn’t seem him actually truly sleeping in anyway since he woke up in Mark’s apartment as the shell of his previous self. He was amazed at the sight. 

He got up slowly from his chair and walked towards Jack. Mark kneeled next to the cushions and looked at his friend close up. His breathing was steady and his face was relaxed. Mark could see some of the makeshift first aid jobs he’d done had been cleaned up and done a bit better than they had been. The pillowcase had been smeared with dirt from Jack’s face, even though it was apparent that Signe had tried to wash him as much as she could. It made Mark’s heart swell with joy to see his friend sleeping so calmly. He might not have technically been a human anymore, but Mark always thought there was some part of him somewhere that was exhausted from never really getting any sleep. From the tranquil look on Jack’s face, Mark thought he was probably right. 

“How did you get him to sleep?” Mark asked quietly, not wanting to wake him up. 

Signe didn’t answer. It made Mark nervous. 

“Signe.. How did you get him to sleep?” Mark asked again, a little more anxious this time. 

“I know you’re protective of him, and I know you were hesitant about me testing him or, or doing anything to him,” Mark’s body started to tense up again and Signe seemed to realize that. She started speaking quicker, trying to explain herself, “But we could see in his eyes that he was tired, Mark. All of us. You must have seen it to. He didn’t need sleep to stay functioning, but that part of him that’s still in there somewhere.. He needed rest..”

“You haven’t answered the question.”

“I gave him a shot,” Signe said finally. Mark’s heart was immediately filled with panic and nerves and anxiety, “But but, I wouldn’t have given it to him if there was any doubt in my mind that it might hurt him!” She raised her voice a bit, urgent to get Mark to trust her. 

Mark didn’t say anything. He turned back to look at Jack. The peaceful look on his friend’s face made it hard to be angry. Whatever she’d done had really worked. It hadn’t killed him or put him in any kind of distress. Maybe even just a bit of rest would return Jack back to his normal self, if only just a small bit. It was a stretch to think so but Mark let himself hope for it anyway. 

“I um,” Signe spoke again, “I also ran a few more tests on him..”

Mark turned around to look at her, not angry anymore but curious. 

“Okay?” Mark said, waiting for her to continue, “What did you find?”

“Well..” Signe looked back over her shoulder at the papers on her desk before turning back to Mark again, “That’s the thing.. It’s uh-- I have a few things I need to talk to you about,” She looked down at her hands folded in her lap, “But I’m not sure that you’ll be too thrilled to hear them.”


	14. Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Signe breaks the bad news and Mark makes a quick decision.

After Mark had settled back in the seat next to her desk and waited for her to straighten out a few papers, she turned to him. There was a moment of silence between the two of them. Mark’s palms had grown clammy. He didn’t have the slightest idea what news she had for him. The longer she stayed quiet, the more time his brain had to run wild with horrible possibilities.

“So um, I guess I can start with some good news,” Signe said, “I think that it’s possible to remove them, without tearing out brain tissue with them,” Mark felt himself get a little bit excited with this news, but he knew there would be more.

“How?” He asked.

She set a test tube capped with a lid in front of him on the desk. There was some sort of clear liquid inside the tube. He was too nervous to touch it or pick it up, not wanting to break whatever it was that might help cure Jack.

“What is it?”

“Ivermect--,” She stopped and shook her head, “It’s kind of my own concoction of medications and chemicals that I’ve been working on for quite some time…. I pulled a few more eggs from Jack and after adjusting it a bit, it killed them. It took about 12 hours or so and for awhile I thought I wasn’t making any progress but.. That dose, that combination killed the eggs,” She tucked a piece of loose hair behind her ear, “I think it might be able to at least paralyze the actual parasite for long enough that we could get it out of the brain without causing too much damage..”

“That’s good, isn’t it? I mean if we’ve found something that kills the eggs and the parasite, we’ve done it haven’t we? I mean you’ve done it. You’ve basically found the cure, haven’t you?” Mark was sitting on the edge of his seat now.

“It’s not really that simple, Mark.”

“What do you mean it’s not that simple? You said it yourself. We can get the parasites out with this,” He gestured to the vile.

“I said we might be able to.. I think to kill the eggs, we’d just have to put it in the veins of the infected… But I don’t know how the human body is going to react having this combination, or this much chemicals in it..” She glanced over to Jack before looking at Mark.

“So we test it on someone. We get someone who’s infected, we bring them back here, and we test it,” Mark rubbed his hands on his pants to dry his sweaty palms, “If it works with the eggs, then from there we can try it on the actual parasite itself.”

“It’s not that simple,” She repeated herself, letting out a sigh, “If it doesn’t work, and the body rejects it or, or it has any kind of negative reaction, then we could kill whoever we test it on. Do you really want to kill somebody, Mark?”

He nodded his head slowly, sitting back.

“Annd that leads me to my next point… In order to get to the parasite, in order to inject the actual cure into it, we’d have to get to the brain. We’d have to get into the skull..” She gestured to the small room they were in, “I don’t have the tools for that, and even if I did, I’m not trained for that kind of thing. I would end up doing more harm than anything else..”

Mark didn’t say anything for a few minutes. He just sat back in his chair and thought. How were they supposed to find anyone who knew how to perform brain surgery? It wasn’t likely that they’d just stumble upon someone with those skills with the country in the state that it was in now. And even if they did find a doctor, the odds of finding the tools were probably even more unlikely. Things were starting to feel hopeless.

Then it hit Mark and a light bulb went off over his head.

“We were on our way to Modesto when Marzia and Felix found us,” He said. She gave him a confused look, “I heard over a CB radio, someone broadcasting something about a little safe community they’d made. If we made it there, they’d let us in. They’d even said they knew of some kind of cure. Maybe they’ve figured out what you did.”

Signe looked at him doubtfully, “If they have a cure, why would they stay holed up in some isolated place instead of trying to actually use it?”

Mark shrugged, “I don’t know. I don’t know. But if they were trying to find a cure, they might have a doctor, right? They could have a doctor with them. They might be able to get to the parasite, if you could get the cure to them,” His heart was beating fast. Signe didn’t look like she was thrilled with the idea. He felt like a small child begging his mother for a candy bar, the anxious feeling washing over him at the thought of her saying no.

“Well you guys were going there anyway, weren’t you? I’m not going to stop you.”

“We need you to come with us, Signe,” He told her, “There’s no way I can tell them everything when we get there. What good is the bottle of chemicals without the science and all that important shit to back it up?”

Signe looked down at her hands in her lap, picking at her fingernails.

“Signe please.. You have to come with us. Please.”

He could see her taking a shaky breath in and then swallow, “Fine.. Okay. Okay, I’ll go,” She didn’t sound totally convinced or on board with the idea, but she had agreed and that was all Mark needed.

“Thank you. Thank you, thank you so much, Signe,” His heart was beating so hard in his chest and his head was swimming. This was progress. This was so much progress that he felt like he’d been shot thousands of feet into the air in only a few moments. He’d gone from not knowing anything, to knowing more than he could even truly understand in just a matter of days.

“But we’ll have to wait until he wakes up,” She looked over at Jack again, “And.. And I’m going to have to pack up some things.. You have to give me some time to get ready to go.”

Mark nodded quickly, “Whatever you need to do.”

“I’m not a survival expert, Mark,” She said quietly, looking at him.

“Neither am I.. But I’ve made it this far, and so have you,” He told her, looking her in the eye, “We’ll make this trip together, the three of us. We’ll take it all one step at a time, and we’ll get there in one piece. I promise.” He offered her a soft smile.

She gave him a little smile in return, but it was hesitant and nervous.

“Alright,” Signe said. There was silence for a few more seconds before she spoke up again, “I don’t want to be rude but, I need to start getting things together so if you’d maybe give me some time to myself, that would be great.”

Mark stood up, probably a little too quickly, not able to contain the adrenaline starting to build in his body, “Right, yeah, of course,” He started to walk towards the door, but stopped before he was out of the room. He turned back towards Signe and spoke, his voice softer, “Hey, Signe?”

She looked over her shoulder, raising her brows at him.

“Thank you. Truly, seriously.. Thank you,” He said genuinely.

She just smiled in return. This time it was a real smile that reached her eyes. She turned back towards her desk to continue gathering things for their trip. Mark thought, just for a second, that maybe she wouldn’t regret her decision to go with them after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> traveling chapters, here we come.


	15. On the Road Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to move out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short chapter because it's more just a filler to get them out and into town. The next chapter will be longer and more action packed, I promise.

Mark felt a bit antsy, wanting to get out and on the move before Signe changed her mind. She insisted on waiting until Jack woke up, even though Mark told her that he’d be fine just carrying him. Signe disagreed, saying that she wanted to check a few things once he’d woken up, and she wouldn’t be able to do that once they’d left. Mark wasn’t really in the position to argue, as he’d convinced her to come along when she wasn’t thrilled about the idea. 

Even after Jack had woken up, they’d stayed one more night. Marzia insisted on it, saying that they needed one more night of rest in a safe place before they’d have to go out into the world again. Mark had to admit that it was nice getting good sleep and not having to be on high alert the whole time. He had enjoyed the warmth of the underground shelter, the coziness of having dry, clean clothes and the reassurance that they would have food to eat when they needed it. He would miss those luxuries once they left. 

Four days after he’d convinced Signe to leave with him and Jack, they were ready to go. Jack had been awake since the previous day. He’d woken up easily and even showed a bit of the crankiness he’d been known to have after waking up before he became infected. It made Mark’s heart ache to see a human trait peek through, despite Jack’s infection. 

Signe had run whatever tests she’d wanted to run on him after he’d woken up. They hadn’t taken long and she seemed to be pleased with the results. Mark didn’t ask about them. He thought that maybe the more she told him about the science she did, the more mixed up he’d become about the information. His main focus was remembering what she’d told him about the cure, and the procedures needed to use it. 

“That’s not to heavy for you, is it?” Marzia asked Mark as he adjusted the straps of the pack on his back. 

“It’s fine, I’ve got it,” Mark reassured her. It was a bit heavy, but definitely not anything he couldn’t handle. The food and water weighing it down was worth the extra weight, “I really appreciate you giving us this stuff to take with us,” Mark told her. 

Marzia had packed the backpack with four large cans of beans, two cans of canned meat, two large water bottles, some dry socks, and an extra jacket. Felix had given them a swiss army knife and a switchblade. Signe had packed what she needed into a backpack of her own and after double checking through everything, they were ready to go. 

Mark was tying a rope around Jack’s waist when Signe came over to observe what he was doing. 

“Is that really necessary?” She asked. 

“Yeah,” He let out a sigh, trying not to sound annoyed, “It is,” He continued working on making sure it was secure, “He gets distracted easily and doesn’t exactly listen to directions well without me pulling him along. If I don’t keep him tied to me, he wanders off.”

“Oh,” Signe said before falling silent again. 

The annoyance hadn’t been very well masked, but he wasn’t going to apologize. He was glad that she was accompanying them but Mark had certain ways of doing things that he needed her to accept. He didn’t need her questioning everything he did. He’d figured out what needed to be done to keep Jack safe and unless she had suggestions on how to improve those tactics, he didn’t really want her input on them. 

They said their goodbyes and finally, Mark was pushing open the door to the underground safe house and stepping out into the outside world again. Jack followed clumsily behind him, and Signe was close on his heels. 

The wind was harsh and sharp and it bit the tip of his nose. Mark stuck his hands in the pockets of his sweatshirt as the made their way through the alleyway and out onto the main streets. It was even colder without the buildings to shield them from the harsher wind speeds. Mark had goosebumps on his skin, and had to hold onto the rope a bit tighter so that he didn’t have to worry about Jack getting too moved by the wind. Despite the cold, he was happy with the weather. As long as it wasn’t raining, he was willing to put up with almost anything. 

Felix had given them directions for the fastest route out of the city. They needed to get out as soon as possible. The longer they wandered around trying to find their way, the most likely it was that they’d run into whoever it was that wanted to kill Jack. Mark hoped that they’d forgotten about him, or maybe they’d assumed he’d left town already since they hadn’t been out in the open for awhile. Those were probably unlikely possibilities, but it couldn’t hurt to hope. 

“Keep your eyes out,” Mark said to Signe. She nodded her head. 

Things would be a little more relaxed once they’d gotten out of town. It wouldn’t be all sunshines and rainbows, of course. But it wouldn’t have to be so tense and not nearly as nerve-wracking. There were always dangers now that the world around them was the way it was, but having someone out to kill them specifically was a different matter altogether.


	16. Unexpected Obstacles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes things don't go as planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's been a hot fucking minute since i updated this. and i don't think this is really the best chapter that i've ever written but i'm getting back into the swing of things so forgive me for this mediocrity. thanks to everyone who has read up to this point and who actually wanted to see an update. sorry i dropped off the face of the earth for awhile, and thanks for still being interested. the following chapters will get better again i promise. just bare with me. xo

The map was a little difficult to read with the wind blowing as hard as it was. Mark tried to memorize small bits of it at a time so that he didn’t have to stop as often to check it. He knew that every time they stopped, it was putting them at more risk of being caught. He was starting to think that maybe he should have tried to memorize the route before they’d left the basement, but hindsight was 20/20 and it was too late for that now. There was no time for “should have”s. 

Jack seemed indifferent about the wind. He was more distracted by the fact that Signe was with them than anything else. Mark hadn’t even thought that he’d notice or care. Sure, it had been just the two of them for a long time but he hadn’t thought that Jack would be so affected by the new addition. He kept making sounds in her direction-- groaning and grunting and gurgling the way he usually did. Mark had never really been sure if he was trying to communicate when he did these things, or if he was just making noise to make noise. 

However, now it seemed that he was trying to communicate, but not with Mark. In fact, Jack had hardly paid any attention to Mark sense they’d left the basement, aside from grunts of protest when Mark tugged him back in the right direction if he started to wander off. Signe seemed to be the most important thing to him at the moment. Mark wasn’t really too upset by it. When he stopped to look at the map, Signe would scribble quickly in a notebook, glancing over at Jack. She looked very pleased with whatever information she was writing down. Mark was glad that she wasn’t regretting coming with them. 

“Did you hear that?” Signe asked when they were stopped to check the map again. The wind was so loud in Mark’s ears that it was hard to even hear what she was saying, let alone any other sounds around them. 

“No,” He shook his head. “What was it?” 

“I’m not sure…” Signe furrowed her brow and turned her ear towards where he assumed she’d heard the noise. “It sounded like a dog barking.”

“Fuck,” Mark cursed under his breath. “They might be close.” There was a small chance that it was a stray, but they couldn’t take the chance of waiting around to find out. He took one more quick look at the map before shoving it in the small pocket of his backpack. “Come on.” He gestured for Signe to follow him and tugged on Jack’s rope. 

They walked out from around the corner of the building they’d taken cover behind. Mark tried to listen as best as he could, but straining to listen for other sounds seemed to only make the wind louder. His heart jumped into his throat at every little sound that he thought he heard. The fastest way out of the city was to take the main streets, but it was riskier. Mark would have to figure out their own way if he tried to take a route that kept them more well hidden. He might even get them lost if he took the risk, so he decided not to. 

“I don’t hear it anymore. I think whoever it was is gone,” Signe said, still speaking quietly. 

“Keep your eyes out, just in case..” Mark told her. 

They made it a few more blocks before the barking sounded again. This time Mark heard it loud and clear. It sounded close and alarming, like the dog had picked up their scent somehow. If it had, it could easily lead someone right to them and they’d be screwed. But hiding from a dog wasn’t as easy as hiding from a few guys who didn’t even know that Mark and Jack and Signe were out and about in the first place. 

“We should hide,” Signe suggested. 

Mark shook his head. “If they’ve got a dog with them, the best thing we can do is keep moving… If we can stay ahead of them then we might be able to get out of here before they find us.” 

He could tell that Signe was getting anxious. She was more antsy than usual. A few times she even asked Mark if he was sure that pushing forward was the right decision. He could have been honest with her and told her that no, he wasn’t sure. But he thought that it would be better if he seemed confident in his decision. So instead, every time she asked he told her that he was certain. The dog would track them down quickly if they stopped and they’d be shit out of luck. 

Needing to stay ahead of the dog and it’s owner made checking the map a little more difficult. They had to keep moving while Mark looked at it, sometimes sending them a bit off track as they didn’t realize they’d taken a wrong turn until they were too far in that direction to easily backtrack and correct the mistake. 

“Should we have brought a compass? We should have brought a compass..” Signe muttered to herself during one of their re-routes. 

“We don’t need a compass.” Mark snapped back. He was under enough stress as it was. He didn’t need her harping on his directional skills. 

Jack had followed along easily, complying to every turn and going along with every tug they made on his rope. A few times Mark saw a look of what might have been concern on his face when he looked back to check on him. Signe seemed to see it too, as they exchanged a look of intrigue. It felt like he knew that something was wrong, he just couldn’t wrap his head around what it was. Mark couldn’t help but think that maybe some of the tests Signe had ran back at the shelter had knocked somethings loose in his brain— or at least hope they had. 

“We’re getting close.” He announced quietly as he looked at the map again, taking a right turn. 

They hadn’t heard the dog bark or make any noise at all recently and that was a very good sign. Maybe they’d lost them. After all, it was very possible that anybody who’d been with the dog had ignored it’s barking, not knowing what it was detecting or just not caring either way. There was a small possibility that the two people who found Mark and Jack in the empty house that night hadn’t even told anyone when they’d gone back to their own camp. It could have been a kind of personal vendetta they’d marked in their brains that maybe they’d even forgotten about. Perhaps they’d get out of town easily. 

But that was too optimistic and Mark knew it. He knew it way before they got to the edge of town, but it hit him especially hard when they saw what was waiting for them. Them and anyone else who wanted to exit or enter the city. 

As soon as they turned what should have been the last corner before they could walk straight down a road that took them to a freeway off ramp and out of the city, they saw what could have been described as one Mark’s worst nightmares at that moment. What he could only assume to be more members of whatever type of group ran this town had built up a type of barricade at the edge of the town, blocking the way out. There was a small opening towards the middle of it, just big enough for a person to pass through, one at a time. It was heavily guarded— five people standing in front of it, a few patrolling the surrounding areas, and no doubt at least five standing guard on the other side as well.

Mark felt his stomach drop. 

“Shit…” Signe cursed quietly, looking on at the giant obstacle in their way. “What are we gonna do?”

Mark’s mouth had gone dry. This was worse than anything he’d thought they might encounter if they’d run into any trouble in the city. This wasn’t a problem they had to run from or avoid. This was a large and literal roadblock in their way, keeping them from moving forward. He’d thought it would be easy to just get out of town and leave it behind, but he hadn’t expected this. Felix and Marzia hadn’t mentioned it. He didn’t think they even knew about it, and there was a part of him that wished he had some way to let them know. 

“I don’t know..” Mark’s words were barely above a whisper. He hated to say it out loud. He hated to admit that he was at a complete loss of what to do, that he was feeling scared and a bit defeated. But there was nothing else that he could do. “I just don’t know.."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd totally love it if you told me what you think is gonna happen next/what you want to happen next in the comments!!


	17. Just Passing Through

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some real risky business.

They ducked back behind a dumpster to try and stay hidden while they tried to figure out their plan of action. Mark was usually pretty good with thinking on his feet, but this didn’t feel like any other obstacle they’d ever run into before. There was a fear and panic in his stomach that crept up into his throat and made it difficult to breathe. His fear was clouding his mind and his judgment, although he’d never admit it out loud. 

“We could go back to the shelter and try to figure out another way out of town..” Signe suggested after a few minutes of tense silence. 

Mark shook his head. 

“If we backtrack, we run the risk of running into anyone other dangers roaming around. We’re lucky enough to even get here without any trouble. There’s no way we’ll be lucky enough to make it back without running into some kind of trouble.” His hands were sweaty. He wiped them off on his jeans. 

Signe didn’t say anything else for awhile. Mark felt like maybe he’d hurt her feelings by rejecting her idea. It wasn’t like it was anything personal against her. In a situation like this, they needed to be realistic about what would work and what wouldn’t. He didn’t want to put them in danger just to spare her feelings. Mark felt a little frustrated that she’d even get moody about it in the first place. Now wasn’t the time to focus on small, petty issues. 

He wasn’t the best at being in touch with his feelings, though. Maybe he’d talk to her about it later— if they could survive until later.

“What if you put your sweatshirt on him and carry him?” She spoke up again. 

“What?” Mark furrowed his brows, waiting for her to elaborate.

“We can put a sweatshirt on him with the hood pulled up, and you can carry him. When they ask about him, we can tell them that he injured his leg or something and they’ll let us through.” She sounded more confident in this plan than she did with her original suggestion. It felt like more of a statement, like that’s what she’d decided they were going to do whether Mark agreed or not. He didn’t have any better ideas himself, so he thought they’d give it a shot. 

Mark pulled his hoodie off over his head and struggled a bit with putting it on Jack. He fought him the whole way, like a small child, but eventually Mark got it onto him and pulled the hood up over his head. If you looked at his face, the pale and greenish tinted complexion gave him away immediately. However, Mark thought that he could probably carry him in a way that his face was fairly hidden. If Jack would just let Mark carry him without much fuss then they might be able to pull it off. 

“Okay buddy,” Mark said to Jack, trying to make the most amount of eye contact that he could get. “I’m going to pick you up and carry you. I know you probably won’t like it, but it’s really really important that you stay still and stay quiet. Can you do that?” Of course he didn’t really expect Jack to understand everything he said, if he even understood anything at all. But it made Mark feel a little bit better to know that he’d at least tried to tell Jack what they needed from him. 

Jack wasn’t exactly the lightest person in the world but thankfully Mark had a good amount of muscle so he managed to pick Jack up and hold him bridal style. He tilted Jack’s body so that he was leaning more towards his chest than outwards. Hiding his face would be the most important part.

“Ready?” Signe asked quietly. 

“As I’ll ever be.” Mark let out a dry laugh. 

The two of them walked out from behind the dumpster and tried to look as casual as they could manage. Jack was staying relatively still and quiet. Mark could only hope and pray that he stayed this way and didn’t do anything to blow their cover. They had no back up plan. He had no idea what they’d do if they were found out while trying to pass through the barricade. Would they be shot at? Or tackled and captured? Or suffer some entirely different fate that Mark couldn’t even imagine? He decided it was better to stay optimistic about their plan instead of worrying about what would happen if it went wrong. 

They approached the barricade, finally within earshot of the two guards closest to the opening. He felt Signe move a little closer to him from behind, lightly grabbing onto the back of his upper arm. It was oddly comforting to him, and he thought it probably was for her as well. 

“Hey, who are you?” The guard barked. 

“I uh, I’m Tony and this is Lauren,” He lied spontaneously, not knowing what made him do it but trusting his gut anyway. “We’re just passing through.” 

The guards eyed them suspiciously. 

“Where you headed?” The other guard asked. 

“Up North,” Signe was the one to speak up this time. “I used to have some family up there so we’re going to see if they’re still there or if they, y’know… aren’t.”

The first guard looked a little solemn and nodded his head. “I had family up North myself. I was living up there when this shit storm started. After I lost my wife and my brother, I decided to come down this way. Heard there was a settlement that didn’t have bullshit hippie values about wanting to save those mutated fuckers.” Mark swallowed hard but just nodded as he listened. 

“I’m sorry to hear that about your family.” There was a genuine sincerity in Signe’s voice that actually had him feeling bad for this asshole. 

“What’s with him?” The second guard spoke again, eyeing Jack. 

“He heart his leg pretty bad awhile back. It hasn’t really had the chance to heal so, this is the best we can do in the meantime.” Mark lied through his teeth. His mouth was dry and his heart was beating 100 miles an hour. It felt like it might actually burst out of his chest. However, he tried to remain as calm as possible on the outside. 

“You know, we have some medical shit back at base camp in town. You might be able to take him there and get him checked up.” The first guard— clearly the more friendly of the two— offered. 

This was something that Mark hadn’t planned on. He didn’t think they’d be friendly or talkative or helpful. He couldn’t think of a reason that they’d turn down the offer of free medical help if Jack’s leg had really been as messed up as they’d implied by carrying him. If he’d really been hurt, and hadn’t been infected, Mark would have accepted the help in a heartbeat. Most people probably would have. So it would probably seem suspicious to decline the offer. 

Luckily, Signe spoke up while his brain was spiraling into a panic. 

“We’ve actually got it wrapped up pretty good under his jeans and it’s pretty much taken care of, we just have to wait it out until it heals on its own, y’know?” Mark was impressed with how natural her lies sounded. 

“Alright well….” The second guard stepped forward a little bit and Mark’s body tensed up. He held Jack a little closer to him. Both guards noticed that immediately. 

“You feelin’ alright there?” One of them tried to say to Jack. 

No response. 

They looked to Mark and Signe with eyebrows raised. 

“He was uh, he was in a lot of pain so we gave him some alcohol to ease it and he passed right out.” Mark laughed and hoped it didn’t sound too nervous.

Nobody said anything for a few seconds as the two men seemed to be thinking over the information they’d been given. They exchanged a look that Mark couldn’t read. For a second, he was terrified. Were they about to call them out on their bluff? Had their plan been foiled? Mark’s brain started to kick into high alert mode and he was ready to book it towards the opening as fast as he could. 

“That’s some good thinking right there,” One of the guards finally said. Mark let out a silent breath of air. He was feeling light headed. “I don’t know that I’ve ever had a problem that some good alcohol can’t solve.” The guards laughed and Mark and Signe laughed along with them. 

“You can go ahead and move on through.” They stepped to the side. 

Just a few more minutes and they’d be home free. 

“Thanks,” Signe said kindly. Luckily her brain was working well enough to still seem semi-normal, as Mark’s was currently on auto pilot to get the hell out of there. 

Trying not to seem to eager or too rushed, they walked past the guards and headed through the opening in the barricade. It was so difficult to keep a casual pace when all he wanted to do was sprint away as fast as he could. He let Signe walk through first, feeling better when he could see her and know that she wasn’t getting left behind somehow. 

“Hey, wait a minute,” They heard from back behind the other side of the roadblock. 

Mark’s body tensed again and he could see that Signe’s had as well. 

He turned around reluctantly after considering bolting forward for a quick moment. 

“I hope you find your family and that they’re safe up North,” The first guard said to them, leaning to poke his head through the exit. He had a warm smile on his face. 

“Thanks,” Signe said again, returning the smile. 

When they turned back around, Mark walked quickly until he was beside her. Jack made a gurgling sound. It was quiet and they were too far away from the guards for them to hear him, but Mark shushed him anyway. His back was starting to ache from carrying Jack and his arms were starting to shake a bit. Whether it was from the weight of his friend of from his nerves, he wasn’t sure. 

“Don’t put him down until they can’t see us anymore,” Signe said quietly to Mark. 

He only nodded, not saying anything in response. He hadn’t even thought about that. Without her there, he definitely would have blown their cover, if he’d even come up with the idea at all. Mark was suddenly feeling incredibly grateful that she was there with him. As they walked on, moving farther and farther away from the barricade, he made a mental note to tell her that later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter!!! Please feel free to let me know what you thought or say whatever else you'd like to say in the comments, as always! Thanks for reading! xo


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